Soul Eater
by CitrusLinkz
Summary: Konoha lost her life in the war, but one child survived. Sakura. When she prayed for a miracle, God turned his back. So what do you do when your only hope turns away? You turn to Lucifer - King of Hell. Sakura Time Travel fic.
1. Prologue and Chapter 1

AniAni: Well, this is my next story. There is another new story to go, but I've decided to focus on this or SKoH. I hope you enjoy reading this, I was influenced by a few lines in Bentley Jones' song, Running Up that Hill (it's technically a cover) and The Swarm by You Me at 6 and this is the result. I have high hopes for this; the Ideas are pounding in my head!

"Speaking"

'_Thoughts'_

'_**Inners/ demons/etc'**_

"**Demons" **(From Hell)

_Flashbacks_

"_Song lyrics" _(If I have any…)

(Authoress notes)

_(If there's anything I've missed, tell me in a review or PM me and I'll rectify it as soon as possible)_

* * *

**The Prologue & Chapter 1:**

**Prologue:**_**A not so Heavenly Deal.**_

_Time flows in a continuous circle,_

_Never tempted to stop or slow down for any man._

_Never reversed, nor sped up._

_But in times of need, there are exceptions._

_An exception she is, but not to the man known as God._

"Damn it, Sai! Stay with me!" Sakura yelled sternly, though her eyes betrayed her, tears threatened to spill over as she pumped as much of her healing Chakra into pale male as she possible could. His hands weakly pushed her own from his chest, "H-hey, I won't make it…" He paused as he coughed up blood from his lungs; he looked up at Sakura, "I want… I want you to take it…" Sai's hand shook as he pulled out a scroll from the pouch o his thigh. "It's… early, but… Happy Birthday Sakura…." Sai spoke, as the life drained from his eyes, though he managed to pull a real smile onto his lips in his final moments, Sakura sobbed into the dead boy's chest, too upset to realise that for the first and last time in his life, Sai had called her 'Sakura'.

She took the scroll, placed it in her pouch and closed Sai's eyes. Sakura looked behind her at the wreckage that was once Konoha. A lone tear cascaded down her cheek as she picked up Sai's body and carried it back into leftovers of Konoha. Sakura wandered around looking for any signs of life.

Nothing.

Sakura walked back to Sai's apartment which was somewhat intact, his bedroom was still in good condition. She rested his body down on the bed and kneeled beside him as she clasped onto his hand as if it would suddenly bring him back to life. Not once letting go until his hands had turned cold. She removed his headband and placed it in her pouch. Sakura soon left then walked around Konoha as if to take in its last moments. She lifelessly made her way to the memorial stone, reading the names of the past KIA heroes, the Konoha 12 minus herself, Sai and that Uchiha traitor.

Sakura felt a scowl tug at her lips. She pulled out a Kunai etching the letters 'S' 'A' 'I' on to the list before writing underneath, 'From civilians to Ninja, the whole of Konoha' No one knew this was how Konoha would end, but everyone joined in, from children to the elderly, mice to bears, Civilians to Ninja. Everyone Died.

Sakura used her Chakra infused strength to move the memorial stone to reveal an underground room filled with barrels of gunpowder. Within half an hour Sakura had spread the barrels around Konoha, with enough distance between them to set off the next, and with a single paper bomb, Konoha was officially no more, with only the Memorial stone and the Hokage Mountain left to remind the world that Konoha had once existed.

"_Tick Tock, Dearest Sakura, Did you know…_

_Your clock is about to Stop?_

_Tick Tock, Dearest Sakura, Are you aware…_

_That your GOD will not save you now?_

_Tick Tock, Dearest Sakura, If you turn to me…_

_I shall give you what you need!_

_Tick Tock, Dearest Sakura, Now that you're mine_

_Your clock has been rewound."_

Sakura pulled off her own headband and placed it in her pouch alongside Sai's. Rain began to fall and Sakura took shelter in the hollow of a tree. Sakura looked up to the sky with dull lifeless eyes, "Please Kami-Sama, let me do everything again. Make everything right." There was no reply, the only sounds was the rain that seemed to pelt the tree even harder, "All that's left for me to do is wallow in Self-pity…?" Sakura whispered to herself, looking down at the grass "I'm weak, trash, something that no _**GOD **_would answer to." Sakura hissed, spitting the word 'God' as if it were poison.

"**Then GOD will realise what he has lost." **A deep voice spoke, causing Sakura to almost give herself whiplash, across from her was a man, his skin was a tan colour, which made his cold Saffron eyes stand out. His hair was as black as the night and his bangs fell just short of his left eye. He had a feral grin exhibited on his face, showing off his lengthy Canine teeth which stood out against the rest of his pearly whites. He was dressed in all black with the exception of his white dress shirt. In his hand was a large black umbrella, shielding him from the rain. He walked over to her kneeling before the Hollow in the tree where she was cramped in. **"Now come, Hell awaits you." **Sakura wasn't aware that she had stood up and walked to the man, and when she was, they weren't stood in the rain anymore.

Sakura felt her legs moving on their own, down the red staircase that were just floating in the air. The staircase was just about wide enough for the both of them to walk down. There were no hand rails, no walls, just floating steps, descending further and further down into the red pit. **"Welcome…" **Sakura looked at him as the raindrops fell from his umbrella with a single flick of the wrist, **"…To the Inferno." **He spoke picking up his pace and Sakura matched it quickly, not that she had a choice.

Soon enough, to Sakura's pleasure, the stairway came to an end before a huge door, which terrified Sakura slightly. The door was three times the size of the Hokage Mountain and Sakura didn't know what was behind it. She gulped and clenched her fist in anxiety. The door opened and she followed the man in. She looked around and took in the royal like look. A throne room. **"I've brought her, Lucifer-sama." **He spoke and bowed before rushing out of the throne room, leaving Sakura alone.

Sakura looked up and saw a man sat at the throne, his whole body was painted white, the most colour that Sakura noticed on him was the somewhat pink on his wings, which Sakura assumed was stain of blood from people he had killed over the years. When he stood Sakura couldn't help a slight blush at the fact that the man was 95% nude with only a strip of white cloth lazily wrapped around him. (If you've seen the Shin Megami Tensei Lucifer, you'll know what I mean.) Even his horns were white. This man was Lucifer, King of Hell.

Lucifer looked up at Sakura and his eyes opened, revealing cold crimson orbs, which looked as if they had been coloured by the blood of the people sent to Hell. Sakura couldn't help but admire the rich shade his eyes were. But soon enough she shook her mind of her thoughts, _'I've got nothing to lose.' _Sakura cleared her throat and looked Lucifer in the eye. He took a seat and rested his head on his fist, and his cocky smirk mocked Sakura. **"Welcome Dearest Sakura." **Lucifer's voice was deep, almost captivating. "Thanks, but why am I here?" Sakura asked, her voice didn't waver, thankfully.

Lucifer's smirk widened, showing off his similar set of teeth to the previous man. **"Your time has run out." **Sakura glared up at him, "How so? I'm pretty sure I didn't die!" She countered.** "Quite the bold one, I like you." **Lucifer spoke simply, almost as if Sakura didn't even speak. **"Take a seat; I'm sure you're tired from the walk." **As he said the words Sakura turned and the seat was there, though she wasn't tired from the walk she took a seat anyway. "I would be a really bad ninja if I got tired after a 20 minute walk." She spoke as she sat casually in the chair. "I'm pretty sure you have a reason for bringing me here. I'd appreciate it if you'd tell me what that reason is."

Sakura watched as Lucifer stood and made his way over to her, his steps light, but still echoed in the giant room. He stopped before her and his smirk never faded, **"Tick Tock, Dearest Sakura. Did you know…? Your Clock is about to stop?" **Lucifer spoke as he began to walk around Sakura, as if examining her. His worlds puzzled her, "My… Clock…?" She spoke furrowing her brows. **"You're about to **_**Die**_**, Dearest Sakura. I saved your life."**Sakura's eyes widened at the thought and Lucifer leaned down to her ear. **"You belong to me now." **The words sent an inhuman shiver down her spine.

"How was I about to die?!" Sakura yelled, "I was safe… Everything's over…" Sakura trailed off. In return a chuckle reached her ears, **"Really now…? Did you really think that you were safe? That everything was over?" **Lucifer spoke, as he leaned on the back of Sakura's chair, his hands ghosted across her cheek, **"When it was your GOD that caused you this pain." **His hand gripped Sakura's face firmly. A look of disgust was evident on his face, but he released his hold on her nonetheless.

"**Tick Tock, Dearest Sakura. Are you aware…? That your GOD will not save you now?" **Lucifer spoke. The look of disgust gone from his face. "GOD…? He wouldn't have saved me to begin with…" Sakura retorted, discouraged. Lucifer looked down at Sakura and she looked him in the eyes, Dull Emerald to Rich Crimson. Sakura sighed, defeated. Lucifer smirked, knowing he had won. He looked Sakura dead in the eye. **"Tick Tock, Dearest Sakura. If you turn to me… I shall give you what you need!" **He spoke and Sakura's eyes lit up. She lurched forward in her chair, "Give me power! And Send me back so I can make everything right!" Sakura yelled desperately. "I'll do anything!"

Lucifer smirked in satisfaction. **"I'll give you the power you seek, and send you back…" **Sakura inwardly cheered. **"But, you will become one of my loyal Soul Eaters on the Land of the Living." **Sakura looked up at him. "A Soul… Eater?" Sakura cringed, as the thought kind of reminded her of Orochimaru. **"You kill and Gather Souls. The more evil the soul, the more its worth." **Lucifer explained. **"Come, we must get you prepared for the journey." **

Lucifer walked to a door to the left of his throne, Sakura followed after him, not as afraid as she was when she first arrived. When she walked into the room she noticed a large number of (Chibi) Devils locked under glass. **"Go pick your Demon; it'll help you to gather souls. Each Demon has their individual abilities and will be locked inside you." **Lucifer explained. Sakura nodded as she weaved in and out of the Glass Prisons. One caught her eye. The Chibi demon looked up; His eyes matched the colour of Lucifer's. His hair was glossy silver. His skin was a healthy shade and He looked eager to go. Sakura lifted the glass and He floated out and sat on her shoulder. Sakura looked at him and he smiled, which she returned.

Sakura heard the sound of Lucifer's foot steps, and she turned and noticed him walking on, so she followed as quickly as she could. **"Now Sakura between you and your demon, you have to choose a weapon." **He spoke standing at the end of the room. Sakura once again began browsing one side and her demon the other. Sakura didn't see anything she particularly liked but her Demon did so she made her way over to him and looked at what he was gazing at. A staff. A small one at that. Sakura took hold of it and it lengthened, and a blade shot out from its tip. Causing Sakura to gasp in surprise. "I'll take this!" Sakura cheered, and her demon grinned, returning to his seat on her shoulder. **"Come, Dearest Sakura. You must be taught the ways of a Soul Eater." **

"**Tick Tock, Dearest Sakura. Now that your mine… Your clock has been rewound."**

**Chapter 1:**_**Back to the Past.**_

For what seemed like a month, Sakura was trained in the Art of Soul Eating. (Because I'm lazy and can't be bothered to describe it nor do I want to give her new powers away!) Today was her final Day in Hell. Sakura woke up and dressed picking up her kunai pouch and her black cloak. Sakura pulled the hood up over her hair and eyes, and walked to the throne room, with Shade, her Chibi demon, perched on her shoulder. She was the first there. Lucifer was sat in his throne in the same position as when Sakura first met him a month ago.

"Lucifer." Sakura spoke, bowing. "I was told there were nine others." His famous smirk appeared. **"There are. You're just early. Dearest Sakura, when you return, provide two souls for me before the day ends. I will send Afael to retrieve them from you." **Lucifer spoke and Sakura nodded in return. Roughly within the next ten minutes nine more people arrived, all covered by the same cloak Sakura had. (Afael is the guy who brought Sakura to the Inferno.)

"**You have all received a necklace, unique to you. Within that Necklace is a Chronos Shard. Your Identification that you are part of the Chronos Games!" **Lucifer began; this caused a slight disruption amongst the 10 cloaked individuals. **"You will be known as Chronos Children to each other. You are the second batch of Chronos Children to be sent out. You will have a number on your body when you go back to the past. 11 being the strongest, 20 the weakest. These numbers mean you are the strongest or weakest of your batch." **He finished.

This puzzled Sakura, so she asked, "Lucifer. What is our objective as a Chronos Child?" Lucifer looked up at Sakura with his infamous smirk. **"Your objective is to take each others Chronos Shard. If you lose your shard to an opponent there will be consequences. If you are willing enough to get those Shards back, you will be fighting for your life and the Shards. If you lose, your life is taken; if you win you get the Shards that your opponent has collected." **Lucifer explained and Sakura nodded. **"You'll be fighting for the Chronos Shards of the first batch also. Now go!" **He called clicking his fingers. A tear ripped through the scene of the throne room, and no one made a move to go through. Sakura rolled her eyes and walked towards it, "I'll be looking forward to taking your Chronos Shards!" She called, giving everyone behind her a cocky two fingered salute as she jumped through the portal.

Sakura felt like she was hit in the head with a sledgehammer, when she opened her eyes she was looking at an unfamiliar ceiling. Or just a ceiling from 6 years ago. Sakura sat up and the hood fell from her head, revealing her long pink tresses, when she stood she felt the cargo pants she was wearing slip from their place. She looked around the room and her eyes landed on the calendar, she realised it was the day she gets her ninja headband. "Shade." Sakura called and Shade floated out from her hood, rubbing his eyes sleepily, **"I'm sleepy…" **He mumbled and Sakura laughed, "Hungry for some souls?" The sentence made him perk up immediately. "There's two downstairs, just like Lucifer asked."

Sakura tied the cargo pants as tight as she could before pulling out her staff. She walked down the stairs and literally walked into the 'man' of the house, "Oh, the filthy whore is awake." He spoke, Sakura looked him up and down then glared, "Yes, and the Abusive man is dead." Sakura spoke coldly as she pressed the staff to his neck and the blade shot out, immediately beheading him. Shade landed on his body and began to eat his soul. "Honey...?" Another voice called Sakura looked to her left and saw her abusive surrogate mother. "What did you do, you bitch!" She screamed, running to the headless man. "I did this…" Sakura whispered and the woman looked up, only to see a blade which cut her head in half.

"Shade, hurry up in devouring their souls, I need to go report this." Sakura spoke as she wandered around the house looking for her money which her surrogate parents took from her. Sakura rummaged through the cupboards and found her money and pocketed it. She headed upstairs and changed into the red dress she wore in the past sealing her cloak and staff in a scroll. She forced herself to cry and made her eyes all red. She walked down the stairs, "Shade, are you done?" Shade nodded as he held up two glass balls with a white flame in them. Sakura took them and Shade sat on her shoulder, **"Have you been crying Sakura-chan?" **He asked concerned, Sakura nodded, "I have to make it look realistic. I need you to hide while I talk to the Hokage." He nodded and disappeared in a burst of flames.

Sakura ran to the Hokage's office and knocked on the door, letting tears spill over her eyes. She entered when she heard the words "Come in". Sakura walked in wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "Sakura-san? What's the matter!?" The Sandaime asked, seeing her wipe away her tears. "S-someone… my p-parents…" Sakura stuttered before tearing up again, "Killed t-them. I f-found them d-d-d" Sakura 'couldn't' bring herself to say the word. The Hokage's eyes widened. "Someone's killed your parents?" He asked and Sakura nodded, wiping away some more of her tears. The Hokage called for some ANBU to check Sakura's home and remove the bodies.

Sakura had been sat in the Hokage's office for over half an hour and the academy had already started. "Sakura, are you okay to go to the Academy or would you prefer to stay here?" He asked and Sakura shook her head, "Today's graduation…" She spoke softly. The Hokage nodded and called an ANBU to escort her to the Academy in case the Killer was still loitering in Konoha. Sakura opened the door and noticed everyone was lined up in alphabetical order. So she took her place between two members of the class. The ANBU that escorted her walked into the room where Iruka was and left soon after glancing at Sakura before leaving.

The ANBU caused people to get rowdy and ask Sakura all sorts of questions. Sakura just looked down and didn't answer. Iruka walked out and told everyone to stop bothering her and called in the next person. Soon enough it was Sakura's turn to go in. She shut the door behind her and Iruka and Mizuki bowed "Sorry to hear of your loss, Sakura-san." Iruka spoke, and Sakura nodded. A moment of silence clouded the room for a moment and then they began. "Just three clones of your self Sakura-san." Mizuki spoke and Sakura nodded, quickly making three clones. "Perfect Sakura-san!" He commented as he gave her a headband. Sakura nodded before tying it around her neck. She sat in a seat at the back, waiting for the day to be over.

At the end of the Day she saw Naruto sat on the swing, so she approached him, "Hey Naruto," She called as she pulled a small smile on her face. He looked up, "Let's go out for Ramen." His eyes lightened up and before he could reply Mizuki sensei walked over, "Sakura-san, you wouldn't mind if I spoke to Naruto for a moment would you?" Sakura shook her head and looked at Naruto, "I'll meet you for ramen another Day Naruto." She spoke with a gentle smile before leaving.

'_**Sakura-chan, you're not going to go back to that house are you?' **_Shade spoke and Sakura pulled a face, _'I'm going to have to go.' _Sakura frowned, before heading back to her house. When she got there, there were a few ANBU about, but she walked into her house. The bodies were gone and the blood was cleaned away. "Haruno Sakura…?" Sakura turned and there was an ANBU stood before her, "The Hokage wishes to speak with you." He spoke and Sakura nodded and was about to head to the Hokage's office but when she stepped out the door, the Hokage was stood at the gate. "I decided to come visit you instead my dear." He spoke and Sakura nodded and she stepped inside and let him in.

"Would you like tea?" She asked and he nodded, Sakura quickly made tea and sat down opposite the Hokage at the table. "Was there something you wanted to talk about Hokage-sama?" Sakura asked as she took a sip of her tea. He nodded, "It's about you. If you want we can find you another place to live with some new guardians or you can remain here." He spoke and Sakura immediately spoke up, "I'd prefer to stay here. If whoever killed my surrogate parents is still lurking around I wouldn't want to put that strain on my next guardians, so I'll stay here alone." The Hokage nodded and placed his tea cup in the sink. "Thank you for the tea Sakura-san." He spoke and he left.

Sakura slumped in her chair and sighed. She finished her tea and went to wash the cups. "**Sakura-san.**" Sakura turned and saw Afael sat in the chair she was previously sat in. She pulled out the two souls and threw them to Afael. "Any news or something to lighten up my day?" Sakura asked, as she ran the water to wash the soap off the cups. "**Not really, Lucifer-sama looks bored already.**" Sakura rolled her eyes at the reply but laughed nonetheless. "Can I ask you a few things Afael?" Sakura asked and she saw him nod in the corner of her eye. "How long does the Chronos Games last?" Sakura asked as she dried the cups.

"**It usually depends on the competitors; we've only held two other Chronos Games. The first one lasted a few months as they were a strong batch of contestants; the second one took roughly two years. Lucifer-sama has only sent out two batches for now, but he seems pleased with both, if he can he might send in another batch of Chronos Children.**" Afael explained. Sakura sat down at the table and rested her head on her fist. "**Lucifer-sama has taken a rather strange liking to you though.**" Sakura laughed and Afael looked at her, confused. "I know, he told me on the first day we met." A silence fell over the duo. "To be honest…" Sakura spoke, breaking the silence, "You guys were really nice to me, I thought you were gonna chop me up and burn me in one of those lava pits!"

Afael laughed, "**To be frank, you're just really easy to get along with. We're not really like that with the others that come down, maybe the odd few but they're very rare.**" Afael spoke, "**How's Shade doing also?**" Afael asked and said boy appeared in a burst of flame on Sakura's shoulder, "Ay! You're gonna torch my hair one day!" Sakura yelled playfully, to which Shade grinned, "**Sorry Sakura-chan!**" Sakura smiled and then turned to Afael. "**It's good to see you doing well, Shade.**" Shade smiled. They began conversating animatedly and Sakura's mind wandered off somewhere

'_So, the souls on my list for now: Orochimaru – he would be worth MILLIONS! Kabuto -Not as much as Orochimaru now but in future if he goes down the same path… Gato – nowhere near as much as Orochimaru or Kabuto, but he pays well. Well… they are the main three I have to focus on for now if I get placed on Team7 again. I wonder… do any of the Chronos Children's souls count…?' _Sakura thought to her self.

"Hey… Afael…" Said man looked her way and rose his brow. "If I kill anyone in the Chronos Game… Will I be able to collect their soul?" Sakura spoke as she crossed her legs under the table. "**I'm afraid not. Their entry price to go back in time was their soul, unlike you. Lucifer-sama made you one of his prized Soul Eater as your price to return to this time. If any of them were Soul Eaters you would have been able to take their soul from them and them you.**" Afael explained and Sakura nodded.

She leaned back in her chair and sighed, "Do you think Lucifer can send me a list of Souls to collect – I need to keep myself busy and I need a challenge. Bonus: It might leave me in a position that is similar to that of previous life." Afael nodded at her request "**I'll make sure your request reaches him when I return. I'll come by at dawn and drop off the list. Until then...**" Afael replied as he stood and picked up his umbrella. "I guess we'll see you tomorrow then." Sakura spoke as Afael disappeared from where he was stood.

Sakura looked over at Shade with a smile "Well Shade, let's hit the hay!" She spoke as Shade sat on her shoulder and she flicked off the lights and travelled up the stairs.


	2. Chapter 2

CL: Well, I was glad to see that not even 24 hours after that I already had reviews. Made my day! Thank you very much to those who have reviewed so far! Erm, I've put up a poll up on my profile for a pairing in the story… I need your opinions so please vote ASAP! You can choose 2 people to pair Sakura with and the three with the highest votes I'll put in another poll for you all to choose from. Sorry to say, Naruto will not be an option – I can't write NaruSaku love, makes me cringe badly… I'm EXREMELY SORRY for the late update, I planned to upload this last Wednesday but (if you saw on the bottom of my Bio) I had caught the Flu and was out for pretty much the whole week! I'm really sorry and I'll try uploading a little more than usual to make up for it!

"Speaking"

'_Thoughts'_

'_**Inners/ demons/etc'**_

"**Demons"**(From Hell)

'_**Demon's Thoughts**_' (From Hell)

_Flashbacks_

"_Song lyrics"_(If I have any…)

(Authoress notes)

_(If there's anything I've missed, tell me in a review or PM me and I'll rectify it as soon as possible)_

**Chapter 2: **_**Skeleton in the Closet.**_

Sakura woke up in the middle of the night and she looked over to where Shade was sleeping on her pillow. She stood up onto the cold wooden floors and walked to the window. She took a seat on the window frame and rested her head on her hands, bathing in the moonlight. She let her thoughts roam for a while as she held the ends of the pink tresses to her face, checking for split ends. She let out a sigh. "Since when was Konoha so boring…" Sakura whispered to herself as she cracked the window and let the cool crisp air blow against her bare legs.

She looked around her room and noticed a box in her room. Curious, she hopped off the window frame and glided towards the box. Sakura kneeled down and opened the box and a puzzled look crossed her features, "Blank masks?" She lifted the box onto the large desk to her right and turned on the side lamp. She looked over her shoulder at Shade. '_Sleeping like a rock._' She giggled quietly as she turned her gaze back to the desk. She sat down in the chair and emptied the boxes contents onto the table.

There were eight white full-face masks layered one on top the other. Coloured paints, coloured pens, glue and glitter. She looked at the set for a while and then decided to make some masks. No particular reason why. She was bored and it was the middle of the night. What else was she supposed to do?

She sat for hours drawing her designs and actually making them. After hours of labour Sakura was pulled from her working state. "**Sakura…? What are you doing up so early…?**" Shade whispered tiredly as he floated over, rubbing his eyes of sleep. "Oh, Shade. Morning! I'm not doing too much, just making masks!" she replied cheerfully as she shown him two of the eight finished masks and the other six designs. "**Wow Sakura-chan! You're really talented!**" Sakura smiled at his compliment. She pulled one of the finished masks on and looked in the mirror. "Well it fits and it looks awesome… Wait…" She leaned closer into the mirror and inspected her hair. "Since when did I have _blond _highlights…?" Sakura mumbled to her self and shrugged. It didn't look too bad anyway.

She pulled the mask from her face and put it back on the desk. She looked over at Shade who took a seat on her desk and leaned against the stacked masks. "**Shouldn't you be getting ready? Afael should be coming soon.**" Shade spoke and Sakura gasped. "I forgot about Afael! Imma go get ready, if he comes tell him I'm getting ready!" Sakura yelled as she dashed around the rooms picking up the necessary items then proceeded to the bathroom.

Shade P.O.V

I watched Sakura-chan run around the room and smiled. She had a different look in her eyes back in hell. I want to know what the cause of that is. I heard the door slam and then a chuckle. I looked towards the bed and saw Afael sitting at the foot of the bed. "**She forgot I was coming didn't she?**" He asked with a fox-like grin on his face. I nodded and then laced my fingers behind my head and leaned back. "**Yep, but she said she was gonna go get ready and come talk with you.**" I replied and he nodded and made his way over to her desk.

His eyes analysed the masks Sakura-chan had made, and the one that was currently in progress. I let a grin pass my lips and pride filled me. "**She's really good right!?**" I asked as I looked towards him. Afael stayed quiet for a second or two before replying "**Aa, I guess so.**" I raised my brow. Was something on his mind? Did he even hear what I said? Just as I was about to ask I heard the door open and Sakura walked back in. Her now Pink-Blond hair was wet and she was clad in only a towel.

"Oh, I didn't know the social gathering was in my room?" Was all she said, not particularly fazed by the eyes of neither Afael nor me '_**Why would she be fazed by me? I'm her demon after all.**_' Nonetheless, the first thing she did was close the window. "So what have you got to tell me, Afael?" She asked as she pulled another towel out to dry her hair. "**Lucifer-sama has made a list of souls like you had asked.**" Afael began as he pulled some papers out from the pockets of his jacket. "**And he sent you a copy of names and faces of the Chronos Children but said to tell you, 'You can figure out what numbers they are yourself.'.**" Afael finished and I floated over and took the papers from him and had a skim. There are quite a few interesting people here.

Sakura stood up and hung the towel round her neck "Thanks Afael, and pass that on to Lucifer for me too will you?" She spoke as she rummaged through her draws. I looked up from the papers just as Afael disappeared. "**Sakura-chan, these people don't really look all that tough…**" I spoke, it was just my opinion but still, they didn't. Half of the people looked like civilians and the others looked like just scraped the Genin title. "Don't judge a book by its cover, Shade. That could be a fatal mistake. You of all people should know that." She replied. I bit back my lip. Oddly enough her words had stung me a little bit. I remained quiet.

Normal P.O.V

Sakura pulled on fresh undergarments and rummaged through her draws. She pulled out classic three quarter black ninja pants; she then pulled out a tight long sleeved top and put a loose white tee over it. Sakura sat on her bed and wrapped her calves with white bandages. "Shade, where are those papers…?" She was met with silence. Looking up she saw the papers on the floor. She picked them up and noted the slightly singed edge. '_Did what I say offend him…?_' She thought as she went into the kitchen made food and sat down.

"Shade." She called with a stern voice. With a weak flicker of flame he appeared with a poignant look on his face. "Look at me." She said, readying a blueberry. Shade looked up and Sakura pushed the blueberry in his mouth. "Sorry if I offended you earlier." Shade shook his head as he munched on the blueberry. Sakura rolled up the papers and put them in her pouch. "**Should I leave?**" Shade asked and Sakura nodded, taking as many blueberries his small arms could and disappeared in a burst of flames.

Sakura pulled on her shoes and looked into the mirror. Her bangs were brushed to the left (Like in the cover art.) and her ninja headband was tied around her neck loosely, hiding the necklace that held her Chronos Shard. She let out a cheeky grin and charged out the door, on her way to the Academy. She passed by Ino on her way, she smirked inwardly. "Oh, forehead." She spoke drearily, until she noticed the changes, "What's with the change in outfit…? And your hair…?" she asked, "Trying to impress Sasuke-kun?!" She screamed in slight aggression. Sakura just threw her a lacklustre look. "Sasuke…? Pig please. I have woken from that nightmare Genjutsu. You can have him if you like." She spoke as Ino matched her step.

"Nightmare Genjutsu? What makes you say that?" Ino questioned, squinting in Sakura's direction. Sakura rolled her eyes. "Is it a problem that I'd rather have my friendship with you back as opposed to our rivalry over a _boy _who doesn't even like us?" Sakura replied. It was a rhetorical question. Sakura wasn't expecting Ino to jump on her and pull her into a headlock. "Trade accepted, Forehead!" She spoke, giving her a noogie. "Damn it Ino! That's my hair!" Sakura screamed as we entered the Academy building. "Tell me: Why blond?" She asked, and Sakura shrugged. "I dunno, I woke up this morning and looked in the mirror and it was there." It's not a lie. "Aww, think of it this way: You have a little bit of me where ever you go."

Sakura laughed as she opened the door, "That is very dangerous, I might turn reckless." She laughed as she ducked a swipe to the head. Their eyes scanned the room and soon came to the rowdy table. "Sa. Su. Ke. Kun!" Ino chimed as she ran over to join the mob and Sakura sighed. She walked towards the desk and she turned towards Sasuke and took note of Naruto on the desk. '_Isn't this when-_' She was cut off when her thoughts were confirmed.

Naruto got bumped and his lips met Sasuke's. They pulled away gagging and Fan girls began cracking their knuckles, ominously calling for Naruto. Sakura felt an unladylike snort erupt from her and everyone stopped, looking at her. She erupted with laughter. Only her high-pitched hysterics filled the room for a solid two minutes. She leaned onto the table for support, "I-Ino… Hahaha! Did you see that…?" She broke into laughter again for a few seconds. She noticed the ominous aura had returned, "Hey, hey, hey… Don't hit Naruto, he got bumped!" Sakura spoke with a slight grin on her face. Ino looked at her then threw her hands up, "Whatever Sakura." She spoke as she sat down.

Iruka walked in at this point, "Alright, sit down everyone!" Sakura sat between Sasuke and Naruto, like last time. Sakura rested her head on the desk as Iruka spoke and she noticed Naruto lean in, "Thanks, Sakura-chan!" He whispered loudly. Sakura turned her head to show him her raised brow. "For stopping those Fan Girls!" Sakura nodded at this and then when back to letting her mind wander. "It's nothing." She replied into her arm. "Team 7:" Sakura groggily raised her head to the sound of her team's number, "Uzumaki Naruto. Haruno Sakura. Uchiha Sasuke." Naruto jumped up and was about question Iruka on the selection, when Sakura seized him by the back of his orange jacket and yanked him back into his seat "Don't question it, Naruto." Said boy pouted but nodded and remained quiet.

Before Sakura knew it she was sat waiting for Kakashi to come pick them up. She was sat eating red grapes as her hand reached for the papers Afael delivered to her earlier in the day. She laid them on the table and looked through it. She popped a grape in her mouth as she scanned a name. Ito Daichi, AKA Delta. Worth 20,000 Macca (originally SMT currency now it is Hell's currency used to pay for/sell souls – works perfectly!) Sakura choked on the grape and she slammed her hands on the table. "M20,000?!" (Just to clarify: M20,000 would be like how we would say £100, $20 so on) She felt both Naruto's and Sasuke's eyes on her, and she realised what she just did. '_Whoops, but wow. M20,000? Hah, if he keeps getting worse by the week he could Orochimaru a run for his money._' Sakura thought as stared at his name and absorbed his appearance. Messy brown hair and sharp black eyes, eyes that belonged to a killer. She continued on, skimming the pages, and noticed Daichi's partner further back, Watanabe Satoshi. Shaggy red hair, dark green eyes, looks like he couldn't hurt a fly – only worth M1,000. '_That says to me that he lures them in, Daichi goes in for the kill._'

In the corner of her eye, Sakura saw Naruto balancing the blackboard eraser on the door, "Dobe, do you really think that a _Jounin _will fall for that?" Sasuke spoke for the first time ever, since they'd been there. Sakura shrugged as she rolled up her papers and put them in her pouch and took a closer seat to the two males, "Hmm, I dunno Sasuke – He might!" Sakura spoke and Naruto smiled. "See, Sakura-chan thinks so! Besides that's what he gets for being late!" Naruto yelled and on cue they heard footsteps. All eyes towards the door as the hand gripped the door frame and the other pushed the door open.

There stood Kakashi, in chalk dust glory! Naruto's body spasmed with laughter and Sasuke stared at the Jounin, Sakura looked in the same direction, indifferent. "My first impression of you guys:" He started and Naruto shut up to listen, "You're a bunch of idiots." Naruto face planted and I laughed. "Come up to the roof and we'll begin there." He spoke and disappeared with a poof of classic white smoke. "Is this guy really a Jounin." Sasuke muttered to himself as he got up to leave, Naruto and Sakura following suit. "Of course he is." Sakura spoke without thinking but Sasuke didn't reply.

Naruto Kicked open the roof door and sunshine rained on them. They saw Kakashi waiting and they all took a seat. "Well… you should introduce yourselves." Kakashi spoke and Naruto looked at him, "You go first! I don't know what to say and besides… You look suspicious!" Kakashi looked at him rigidly. "My name is Hatake Kakashi. My likes and dislike I don't plan to tell you about. I haven't thought about my dreams. As for hobbies… I have lots of hobbies." He looked over to Naruto to begin.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I like Ramen, learning new jutsu and talking. I hate the two minutes I have to wait to make my ramen and Sasuke-teme! My dream is to become the Hokage, so everyone will stop looking down at me and calling me a failure! My hobbies are pranks I guess." Naruto explained and Sakura felt something tug at her heart and stomach. Kakashi looked over to Sasuke.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I like nothing and I hate everything. Naruto included. My hobbies are training and my dream… no. My… My _Ambition_ is to kill a certain someone – avenging my clan and then I want to restore them to their former glory." He spoke tediously. Sakura inwardly cringed at Sasuke and noticed all eyes on her.

"My name is Haruno Sakura. I like…. Training and reading. I strongly dislike a certain _bastard _myself. Two of them if I'm honest. My hobbies are training and designing. My dream… I guess my dream is to wake up from this '_nightmare_' and trash this Conspiracy that has me and my close ones trapped." She spoke as she looked up, just in time to catch a cloud covering the sun. There was a pregnant silence. Sakura stood up and jumped onto the railing, "I'm gonna go." And as she was about to jump. Kakashi spoke. "Well then. We'll meet tomorrow for survival training at Training ground 3 at 5am." He spoke as he began laughing. Sakura jumped, she knew what he was going to say.

Sakura ran home and called for Shade. "Come, we're training!" She said as she pulled a hair tie, some hair grips and a pair of training gloves off the side. She looked in the mirror beside the door, pinning up her bangs then tying up the remains of her hair. Shade came out the kitchen with a small basket of blueberries as Sakura pulled on the gloves. They made their way to the closest training ground – Training ground 6. When she reached she looked at Shade. "I'm gonna practice my Fire control." Shade nodded and he sat down nearby. Sakura started off with a small warm-up. 50 push-ups, sit-ups, high kicks and jumping jacks.

She rolled her neck and it made a 'pop!' sound. She started punching and kicking the air at all angles and directions. "Alright, Shade, unlock the fire." She called. "**Hai, Sakura-chan!**" He called back and he squeezed his eyes shut in concentration and then he relaxed. Sakura felt her body heat up and the fire run in her veins. She began again. Punching and kicking at the air – fire streamed from her attacks and danced before fading into nothing. Every time 15 minutes Shade called out the fifteen minute marks to her, she'd increase her speed. Soon enough she swapped to straight kicks, then to punches, then she incorporated flips and complicated twists and rolls into the routine. (If you're confused – think: fire bending)

After what seemed like hours to Sakura she slowed to a stop. She looked around the training grounds and saw some posts she could practice her Taijutsu on. She punched the post 500 times before switching arms. When she completed that she did 500 kicks. She wiped the sweat from her brow and repeated the routine. She eventually began to practice with her staff. Practicing attacking and extending the bow at the same time. When nightfall clambered in Sakura was flat on her back and was breathing deeper than usual. The training wasn't strenuous. It was more cautious, she didn't know if someone could be watching. Regardless if it was Kakashi, Sasuke, Naruto, Ino, someone from Konoha. She had to keep her guard up – she could be attacked by anyone in the Chronos Game at any given time. She didn't plan to lose her shard anytime soon.

Sakura looked over to where Shade was and noticed he fell asleep with blueberry juice dripped on the grass around him and she giggled as she put him in the little basket he carried out and she took him home. Sakura walked into the kitchen and flicked on the light. Shade remained sound asleep in the basket and she smiled softly at him as she gently elevated him and carried him upstairs. She placed him on her bed and pulled his covers over his body before stripping herself of her sweaty ninja gear. She showered and washed her hair exiting the bathroom she travelled down the stairs and made herself a hot drink before retreating back to her room to work on her masks.

Sakura busied herself with designing late into the night. Finishing two more masks after five hours of working (from 11 until 4). Though not sleeping the night, Sakura felt even more alert than usual and she rose from her chair to get ready. Stretching and bending to remove her bones and muscles of the cricks and aches. She sashayed into the bathroom, doing the daily things that she needed to. She came back into the room and quickly dressed into something that promoted mobility and flexibility. She found herself dressed in a large black tee tucked into a pair of grey shorts that had a large amount of pockets. She looked in the mirror and pulled her Pink-Blond hair up into a high Ino-like ponytail. Her hair reached her mid back and curled at the ends due to the water that hadn't dried. Sakura shivered as she felt the metal of her Necklace touch her skin before she covered it with her ninja headband.

She looked over at Shade as he turned on the pillow. She smiled softly before making her way to the kitchen to make food. She headed to the fridge and pulled out a pack of fresh, cold blueberries and she put them in the basket Shade had a hold of yesterday – it _was _his basket after all, nothing went in but blueberries, he loved the things for Hell's sake! Sakura shrugged, she was the same with Dango, cherries and grapes. "Speaking of… where _are _my grapes…?" She muttered to herself as she looked at the fruit bowl and then to the fridge. She peered in and there they sat in all their glory on the second shelf. She plucked them from the fridge shelf and split the fruit from its branches and began munching.

After about three minutes of munching on grapes Shade drowsily floated in. He let out a tired yawn, until his eyes locked with the blueberries. An obsessive spark lit in his eye and he charged right for them. Sakura giggled, but she needed to discuss with Shade about the Souls she wanted to collect. "Shade…" She began as she plopped another grape into her mouth, she saw said demon look her was as he devoured three blueberries at once. Sakura pulled out the papers that Afael gave them the previous morning, "These will be our two targets tonight. They're nearby and do know how much one of them is worth…?" Sakura spoke as she pointed to Ito Daichi. Shade had the same reaction as her. "**T-T-T-T-TWENTY THOUSAND!?**" He stuttered in shock and Sakura nodded, "Yeah, and his partner is only worth one thousand. Quite the difference but in any case, they are out targets tonight."

Shade's eyes seemed to darken and a somewhat uncharacteristic smirk passed his lips, "**Souls, souls, souls! Delicious and luxurious!**" Sakura had the same smirk on her face. "Aa. A Delicious and luxurious pay! M21,000 in total!" She squealed in glee. The duo sat giggling about their target until eventually their laughter died out. Sakura looked at the clock on the kitchen wall and it read 5:27. She was late to meet her team – not that it mattered – but she decided to leave nonetheless. "Shade, I'm off, don't go _too _crazy thinking about tonight, save it for when we get to let loose." She advised as she stepped out the door. "**Understood, Sakura-chan!**"

Sakura took to the roofs to avoid being later due to civilian foot traffic. She easily got to Training ground three within 5 minutes. "Sorry for being late, I got caught up with something!" Sakura spoke, half truthfully. They didn't know that –nor did they need to. Naruto saw her and his eyes lit up, "Sakura-chan! You're finally here! You left me with Sasuke-teme for way to long!" He exclaimed and anime tears rolled down his cheeks and Sakura laughed, "It couldn't have been that bad Naruto." She spoke, reassuring the blond. He began talking animatedly in her ear and Sakura nodded and shook her head every so often but the conversation soon went dead.

After what seemed like hours, a voice broke the silence. "You know Sakura-chan…." Naruto said, drawing said girl's attention his way and she noticed Sasuke's ears prick up slightly. "Kakashi-sensei said that this Survival exam was really hard." He spoke and then Sasuke spoke up, "Aa… On average… One third of the teams passed the exam…" He whispered loud enough for her to hear. Naruto looked down sadly, "The other teams got sent back to the Academy…"

Just as the three thought they would have to tear their hair out in boredom, Kakashi appeared in a poof of white smoke. His visible eye curved into and upside down 'U'. "Yo!" Was all he had to say for himself coupled with a two fingered salute. "You… Are… LATE!" Naruto yelled in return and Kakashi smiled in his direction. He pulled out an alarm clock and two bells which he tied to one of the belt loops on his trousers. "Your aim is to get a bell from me before noon. It's about 8:45 now." Kakashi called to them as he set the alarm on the clock. Sakura spoke up for old time's sake – even though she knew the answer. "Kakashi-sensei, there are only two bells and three of us…" She began and Kakashi looked at her, "The third person, or anyone one else who doesn't get a bell will be sent back to the academy." She noticed the other two boys wince at this.

Naruto let a laugh rock his body, "Hahaha! This should be easy! You couldn't even dodge a blackboard eraser!" He taunted and Kakashi looked at him dryly. "Oh, I've dealt with your types before: The class clown. They say the weakest bark loudest." Sakura didn't bother to reach for Naruto as he whipped out a kunai and charged for Kakashi. "That's the spirit. You're all gonna have to come at me with the intent to kill." Kakashi spoke as he made quick work of Naruto's kunai and redirected the point of the kunai back to Naruto's own neck. "Get ready… GO!" Kakashi yelled after he released Naruto and pushed him away.

"Good, they've concealed them-" Kakashi began then his eyes landed on Naruto. "You. Me. Right now!" He demanded and Kakashi shook his head, "Compared to the other two, you're a little… weird." He called to the blond. Said boy glared at Kakashi and retaliated, "The only thing weird here is your haircut!" Kakashi ran his hand through said hair as he crouched down. "The first of the Ninja way… Taijutsu." He spoke and Naruto's eyes followed his hand in confusion. Kakashi pulled out his orange book and Naruto screamed, "Hey why are you reading?!" Kakashi waved him off and blandly replied, "I want to know what happens next of course. Oh, don't worry it won't effect the outcome of this." Naruto Raged as he charged blindly at Kakashi and swung recklessly.

Kakashi dodged his onslaught of attacks and appeared behind Naruto, forming the tiger seal, "Naruto, get out of there!" Everyone heard Sasuke yell from his place in the bushes. Before Naruto could even react, Kakashi's fingers were up his ass and Naruto jumped into the lake with a girlish scream. Sakura took this as her time to strike. She ran at Kakashi and punched. He sidestepped. Sakura smirked, "Better put that book away, or it might get burned." Sakura whispered as she flipped past Kakashi. Kakashi looked at her with a little glint in his eye and Sakura ducked a punch from a clone on her right. She sent the clone an elbow to the chest and it disappeared with a poof of smoke. She looked around and Kakashi was gone. "360? Above…? Below!" She deduced as she jumped, dodging a rising hand.

Kakashi pulled himself from the dirt and she smirked. "How about we skip a lesson Kakashi sensei…?" she spoke as she ran through a quick set of hand seals. "Katon!" She took in a breath and spat out balls of fire, "Housenka no Jutsu!" As she spat the last ball of fire from her lungs she chased after them towards her target. Kakashi dodged the oncoming flames and jumped back near the lake. Sakura smirked as she felt Naruto's chakra build up and he burst from underneath the lake straight for Kakashi and Sakura kept running in his direction. Kakashi took out the Naruto clones and blocked Naruto's Taijutsu and Sakura aimed a kick towards Kakashi's back but he turned and threw Naruto into her and they tumbled over.

Sakura groaned as she pushed Naruto off and she looked up. Kakashi was gone. She pounded her fist into the ground for a minute, the earth cracking against the constant assault. "Ooo, is that…? What- HEY!?" She heard and she turned and saw Naruto hanging from the tree and Kakashi picking up a bell from nearby. Sakura facepalmed and watched Kakashi leave before helping Naruto down from the tree. "Naruto, we need to work as a team to get those bells." Naruto didn't seem to mind it until Sasuke was mentioned. "Aww. But I don't wanna work with him Sakura-chan!" Naruto whined and Sakura looked at him. "I don't care. If you want to be a ninja, you'll do it. All I'll need you to do is get Sasuke out of whatever hole he's got himself into while I hold off Kakashi for a while and then I need the both of you to join in." Sakura spoke sternly, leaving no room for argument. Naruto nodded as they neared the area where Sasuke and Kakashi were fighting.

Sakura covered Naruto's mouth as Sasuke got dragged underground. Kakashi had his back to them and the duo looked at each other Naruto ran round the greenery to get closer to Sasuke without being detected and Sakura ran straight for Kakashi. She sent a kick straight for Kakashi's head and he caught it with his hand. Sakura hands dropped to the ground with her elbows bent as she felt a fiery feeling travel up her free leg as she kicked up at Kakashi's face, straightening her arms for extra power. He pushed her legs away, dodging the fireball that shot from her limb.

Sakura dropped from her handstand into a crouch and smirked when she saw Kakashi's surprised look. She saw Naruto digging Sasuke up from behind him and her smirk widened. She saw the Sasuke clamber out and she ran at Kakashi. She sent another flame filled kick towards him and he dodged backwards towards her team mates. "ATTACK HIM NOW!" She yelled to them and they did so as she took him from behind. The three of them managed to take Kakashi by surprise a little bit, landing quite a few unexpected hits but before they could persist with their attack the timer went off. They weren't too far from the stumps where they had started. They migrated back to the starting point before the two younger males had sat down, leaning against the posts.

Kakashi looked at them, "I have to say… You Pass." He said as he handed them a bento each. The two boys looked at Kakashi in disbelief and Sakura just smiled. "B-but we didn't get the bells!" Naruto yelled confused. Kakashi's smile returned. "The bells were just a ruse to pit you against each other. If you had fought against one another to get the bells then there would have been conflict between you and none of you would have got a bell. But come at me all together like you just had, and you were much more likely to get a bell." Kakashi explained. Naruto still looked confused and Sakura rolled her eyes as she swallowed some of her rice. "Teamwork. That's what the test was about."

Kakashi nodded and looked in her direction. "You were the only one to figure it out. Enlighten me." Her sensei spoke. Sakura put more rice in her mouth to buy time to rack her brain for an excuse. She couldn't exactly say she'd taken the test before now could she? She swallowed. "It was what they said before you came. 'One third of the _teams_ passed' is what Sasuke said to me." She said stressing the word team. She continued on, "I've never seen a Genin team in less than three. If you put two and two together, it's not all that hard to figure out." Kakashi nodded in understanding of her logic and smiled at the team. "Team 7 is an official team now. Come back here tomorrow at 9am." Kakashi spoke as he stood. Ironically he added: "Don't be late." As he disappeared in a poof of smoke. Sakura stood up and stretched as she looked at her bento. "Naruto, you want the rest..?" She asked unsure. Naruto took it off her hands and Sakura thanked him and gave her farewells to her now, once again, official team mates.

Sakura headed home and she headed straight to her room, finishing off her masks. Shade eagerly watched her work as he waited for 'Zero Hour'. Sakura sat up from her almost finished artwork and she looked at the clock that sat above her desk. "7:12pm, an hour and 48 minutes until Zero Hour." Sakura spoke and she stood up. She stretched and headed into the kitchen, with Shade sitting on her shoulders. She pulled a range of fruit from her fruit bowl and began to eat, not feeling like cooking anything. "Shade, you'll need your strength, eat something." Shade nodded and he sat down and ate a range of fruit. (Here's the extra bit I owe you guys, which was supposed to go in the next chapter but whatever.)

Sakura left Shade on the kitchen table, with Bananas, oranges, grapes, blueberries and more at his fingertips. She gripped a towel from off the radiator and stripped of her clothing. She stepped into the bathroom and turned the shower on cold. The lowest it could go. She stepped in and let the water run across her body. Her hair stuck to her body like another layer of skin. She didn't reach for a bar of soap or shampoo. She just rinsed her body of the sweat that had accumulated from the bell test. Any trained or hardened warrior would smell her if she used soap or scented shampoos. She let her mind wander for a moment before turning off the water and stepping out of the shower.

She dried her self off and wrapped the towel around her hair as she walked back to her room nude. She pulled on her undergarments and she pulled on a tight black shirt over a larger, looser black tee. She pulled up a pair of black ninja pants, armed with pockets and she pulled on a black belt that had many compartments. She looked in the mirror as she pulled the towel from her head. Pink-Blond tresses fell in gentle ringlets as she pulled up a face mask. She opened her wardrobe and pulled out a black hooded cloak and she pulled it on. She passes her desk and picked up the last blank mask, tied it to her face and pulled up the cloak hood to hide her hair. She filled her pockets with weapons and vials of poisons and bombs. She stepped into the kitchen and saw shade stood waiting for her, his usual excited ruby orbs were glowing with malevolent bloodlust and he smirked before disappearing in a burst of flames. Sakura tugged on her gloves and she pulled on black ninja sandals. 8:59 ticked to 9:00.

Zero Hour.

Sakura disappeared in a flash to the outskirts of Konoha. On her boarder was a little village named 'Waypoint.' That was where her targets resided. Waypoint was known for large amounts of muggings, prostitution, rapes, murders and ransoms. Sakura walked through and sat down in a bar. In a town of no law, no one would question her age or identity. Her ice green eyes scanned the room and her eyes locked onto a familiar figure. Watanabe Satoshi. Wooing and flirting with the prostitutes, five at a time. Sakura stared at him for a moment before looking away. She ordered a cocktail – cosmopolitan. She placed the money on the table in return for her bright pink cocktail. She cocked her mask to the side and took a sip, and noted the drink had a large amount of orange liquor almost entirely overpowering the tastes of cranberries. She finished it nonetheless as her target left the bar with a prostitute glued to either side of his body.

She pulled her mask down over her face once more and tailed him from the shadows, all the way to a shack which seemed rather far from the village of Waypoint itself. Sakura jumped into the tree that overshadowed the shack and through the cracks and holes in the roof she could see her other target: Ito Daichi. Sakura watched Satoshi push one of the prostitutes into the shack and kept the other one in the short blue skirt for himself. He slammed her against the door, pinning her arms above her head as he forced himself on her. His hands trailed up her skirt, raising it and he let his hands roam her womanhood. Sakura could hear her moans and gasps of pleasure from her place in the tree and she turned to the shack, to Daichi. He had already discarded their clothes and threw her on the bed. When she squinted she saw the flash of a blade in the moonlight. Her eyes widened and she made a clone of herself. They jumped down and she ripped Satoshi from the prostitute, both Sakura's covered their mouths as to not alert the man on the inside of the shack. With the flick of a kunai, she slit Satoshi's throat. The prostitute stared in horror, too petrified to scream, the Sakura clone knocked her out. She leaned her up against the tree and gagged her, tying her up for safety.

Sakura and her clone climbed to the top of the damaged shack in silence and they pulled out their staffs. Ignoring the sounds of grunts, moans of pleasure and drunken screams for more, Sakura neared her prey. Daichi slowly raised the knife as he slowed his thrusting. Sakura dropped on the man, swinging her staff at his hand, knocking the knife away, near the sink on the other side of the room. The Sakura clone copied her actions; swinging her staff which hit Daichi on the back with a loud CRACK. His back arched as he pulled out of the prostitute and rolled away from her. Sakura signalled for her clone. She knocked out the prostitute and wrapped the bed sheet around her nude body and took her outside, gagging her and tying her to the tree near the other prostitute. Sakura eyed the man analysing his body. He was rather tall and muscular yet lean. He ran towards her throwing fists and kicks in her direction.

Sakura blocked and dodged his assault before going on the offence. She felt fire flow through her veins as she sent enflamed attacks in his direction. Flames licked at his skin and he suppressed a scream. He backed up and Sakura tightened her grip on her staff. Her eyes widened for a split second when she heard a weapon unsheathe. "Fuck…" She muttered angrily as her eyes narrowed on the katana she had overlooked. Daichi charged at her in naked splendour and sent wild swings she had difficulty blocking. This went on for a long period of time. Sakura sent chakra into her left arm and blocked Daichi's katana with her forearm. The blade sank into her skin and she clenched her fist harder when she felt the katana meet the bone in her arm. Her chakra grew over the blade and Daichi's eyes widened when he couldn't pull the blade out. Though in pain Sakura felt an extremely feral grin grace her lips. She felt a dry, evil laugh pass by too. "Who are you." He asked as he backed up, the fear in his eyes was more visible than words on a page. She pulled the mask to the side letting Daichi see her crazed face before replying. "Enquire about me in Hell. My name is Haruno Sakura, I'll see you in the _**Inferno**_!" She screamed wildly as she beheaded him with the blade in her staff. Sakura turned her head away, the spray of his blood hit her mask and narrowly missed little eye holes in the mask.

Sakura felt the rush of bloodlust adrenaline drain from her system and she called for Shade. He appeared in a burst of flames, maniacal laughter erupted from him. "**Well, you sure did a number on them! Hahaha!**" He laughed and left to extract their souls. Sakura walked outside to the body of Satoshi, searched his body and found his wallet. She peered inside and noticed the large amount of notes that lined the wallet. It made her curious but she took some. "Pay for a good deed." She muttered to herself as she walked over to the prostitutes and removed the gags and the ropes and shook them awake. She threw the wallet at them and walked back to the house. Shade stood waiting for her with two souls in his hand. One of which was clouded with black miasma. Sakura threw Satoshi's body into the shack and she lifted her mask. She took a deep breath and felt fire heat up her lungs. She breathed out onto the shack and it caught fire quickly. She pulled her mask down and jumped into the trees and made her way home as soon as possible.

The first thing Sakura did when she returned home was go to the bathroom and try to dislodge the katana that was in her arm. She scowled as she felt pain tour her arm. She let out a battle cry and she ripped the katana from her arm. There was only one thing going through her mind as blood squirted from the battle wound: "FUCKING HUUUURRTTSSS! DAMN IT!" She screamed unprofessionally as she tried to wash away the blood which just kept getting replaced by more blood. Eventually she climbed into the shower after peeling as much clothes off as she could. She washed the blood off and sent her healing chakra in and after 10 minutes of cold water and healing her wounds, the deep cut had healed but had left a nasty, dark scar along her arm. She turned off the shower and clambered out and into her pyjamas and into her bed, _boy _was she tired!

CL: Well, I Plan to update this on Wednesdays or every other Wednesday. If I don't set dead lines then I'll just wander off. Hahaha, though my exams and controlled assessments are starting to appear so I have to focus more on that. I'm already getting stressed with the amount of stuff that's piling up. I don't wanna put this in the backseat but I might just have to for certain periods of time. I apologise for the inconvenience, so I'll try uploading longer chapters to make up for my absence. Please make sure to vote in the poll on my profile! :) If there's anything you don't understand then PM me or say in a review and I'll get back to you in the next chapter or PM you back!


	3. Chapter 3

CL: I'm really sorry guys school was a killer the past two weeks for me and I haven't been sleeping much either. I got my exam results from the January exams, and I'm happy with my scores Biology, Chemistry and Physics were all 'B' grades with me being two marks from an 'A' grade in Chemistry. At this point, my school is doing useless shit, which I could do at home, and setting numerous, pointless, homework which take up _so_ much time. So that is what happened in these past two to four weeks. On a positive note: thanks for all the reviews, it says to me that there's nothing bad about my story, which makes me really happy! Also thank you for all the people who have voted in the poll on my profile! Please keep voting! One last thing, when I reach Chapter 4 It will change to a blind poll, just to make it a surprise for you guys. Anyway, on with the story!

"Speaking"

'_Thoughts'_

'**Inners/ demons/etc'**

"**Demons"**(From Hell)

'_**Demon's Thoughts**_' (From Hell)

_Flashbacks_

"_Song lyrics"_(If I have any…)

(Authoress notes)

_(If there's anything I've missed, tell me in a review or PM me and I'll rectify it as soon as possible)_

* * *

**Chapter 3: **_**Of Skirmishes, Bipolar Disorder and Unexpected Visits.**_

Sakura woke early that morning. She walked down the stairs, into the kitchen. She made herself a green tea and sat at the table. Her eyes turned to the window where the sun began to rise. She felt a knot form in her stomach and she winced. "What's coming my way…?" She whispered to herself as she took a sip of tea. Over a small period of time Sakura finished her tea and moved over to the stove with some ingredients for pancakes. "I'm sure Shade would want blueberry pancakes…" she mumbled to herself as she began making breakfast.

Kakashi P.O.V

Kakashi was already wandering the village at 8, on his way to the graveyard to visit his team mates; just like he usually did. He soon reached his destination and he crouched down before the grave of his best friend, Uchiha Obito. "Yo, Obito." Kakashi greeted, which was returned with a soft breeze. He smiled under his mask. "I finally passed a team; our first training session is today. I'll train them well." He spoke as he looked up at the azure sky. "I won't let them down… Never again…" Another wind hit him, but with more force. "What are they like…?" Kakashi went silent for a moment. "Well… as a team, I guess they were kind of like us. Naruto is like another you: hyperactive and doesn't think all too much but he has potential." Kakashi started with a chuckle, "Sasuke… Sasuke is more like me. He thinks he can do everything alone, on his own power. Then there's the final member. She's quite the enigma – almost nothing like her file said."

Kakashi stopped to think about his pink haired student for a moment. Iruka had said in the file that she was extremely smart, but in return her physical results were much lower – under par almost. So many questions entered his head. Did she hold back? Was she training in secret? How strong was she really? What else is she hiding? That last question brought a flash of their clash in the bell test.

_I stood facing Sasuke, "Your female team mate didn't fall for that. Are you sure you're so different from the rest?" I didn't let Sasuke reply as I felt Sakura and she was running in my direction. I felt Naruto running towards Sasuke from the outskirts of the field, but didn't bother stop him. Sakura sent a kick straight for my head and I caught it with my hand. Sakura hands dropped to the ground with her elbows bent as she kicked up at my face, straightening her arms for extra power. A fireball blasted from her foot and I pushed her legs away, barely dodging the unexpected fireball that shot from her limb. Sakura dropped from her handstand into a crouch and smirked when she saw my surprised look._

"Just what was that…?" Kakashi mumbled to himself and he sighed. Shaking his head he continued his speech, "I wonder how far they'll take themselves with their career, Obito." Kakashi stood up straight and stretched, "I'll drop by later, and tell Rin I'll bring her some flowers." Kakashi spoke as he headed to the training grounds, taking numerous detours.

By the time he arrived it was past 10am. He got a lecture from Naruto about it while his other two students stared at him in annoyance. Kakashi's visible eye crinkled and he looked at his students. He noticed the set of bandages that had been donned on Sakura's forearm. '_Has she been training…? Her Chakra levels are higher than yesterday._' He though to himself. He walked towards the trio and spoke, "Today is some basic training. I want to see what you're able to do and what we need to work on." Sasuke nodded, Naruto pumped his fist, and Sakura looked indifferent.

Normal P.O.V

For Sakura, training seemed to drag on a bit. More than she hoped, if she was completely honest. She began her trek home when she felt an unfamiliar presence nearby. Her eyes narrowed. She walked to a devastated area, relatively far from civilisation and her hand hovered over her pouch, ready to reach for a weapon. Sakura ducked and three shuriken whipped just were her head was not even half a second earlier. Her eyes shot to the left and her eyes locked with amber coloured eyes. The man was skinny, and looked to be in his late twenties. The tattoo of 6 clear on the lower left of his face and over his jaw line in gothic font. His spiked red hair bobbed as he stepped towards her, drawing more shuriken. "Aren't you a young beauty? How old are you?" he spoke with a feral hint in his tone and a crazed look in his eye. Sakura's eyes narrowed further as she stood, drawing three shuriken of her own.

The man grinned, "Aww, are you not gonna answer me? That's fine. I'll just take what I want from you and leave you for dead." He spoke, throwing his shuriken. Sakura evaded to the left before throwing her own shuriken. Six ducked and swiftly slinked over to Sakura and began hand to hand combat. Fists and feet were swung with great ferocity, and speed. Six smirked as Sakura jumped back from their close combat. Sakura went through a series of hand signs and blew fire towards Six, not bothering with naming the jutsu out loud. When the long stream of fire ended, Sakura heard laugher, maniacal laughter. "HAHAHA! You think a fire jutsu will do anything to me you bitch?! You're sorely mistaken!" When the fire cleared Six was stood in the centre, with a red blade. "Meet my demon and my blade – Kasai." He spoke, crouching down, as if ready to pounce. "And she's going to help me rip that Chronos shard from your mangled corpse, you whore!" Sakura twitched as she waited for Six to strike. His grin turned more ferocious as moments passed. Sakura his eyes bore into her in an unpleasant way. She suppressed a shiver. Six licked his lips, "On second thought, I might just keep you when I rip that Chronos Shard from your body. The things I could do with – No… _to_ you! I'd never have a dull moment!" He called repulsively. Sakura felt something in her snap and she charged at the man, throwing more weapons. Six deflected them with his blade and Sakura ran through another wave of hand signs and spat bullets of water in his direction. "Let's see your precious Kasai block these!" Sakura yelled between bullets. Six swayed between bullets and one pounded into his shoulder, knocking him off balance.

Sakura took this as her chance and shot another water bullet at his blade. An ear splitting scream ripped from the blade and the red dripped from the blade and formed into a demon. Her hair was short and red, just like her master's. Her eyes were a shocking blue and they were filled with tears. Sakura drew in towards Six as he got up, sending a chakra-filled punch towards his face. He jumped, but it was a futile effort as her chakra-filled punch hit him square in the torso. Six flew back, through two trees and slammed into the third with a loud "GAK!" and he slumped to the bottom, passing out. Sakura looked towards Kasai, her skin was peeling as she cried and whimpered. Sakura paid no heed and walked over to Six, checking his neck for the necklace. There on his necklace were three Chronos Shards – including his own. Sakura smirked as she tied him up to the tree with rope and left.

Three shards and it was only her third day back. Sakura looked up at the sky which had turned orange. "Was I really out there for that long…?" She mumbled to herself as she clutched the Chronos Shards. "Sakura-chan! Where have you been!?" She heard the familiar voice of Naruto calling after her, surprisingly Sasuke was trailing after him, shooting Sakura an annoyed glare. Sakura looked at them quizzically. "Why were you looking for me?" She turned to face Naruto fully and he gasped, "Sakura-chan, your shoulder and your arm!" He yelled, Sakura cocked her head to the side in confusion and she felt cold metal on her cheek. Sakura looked and saw the handle of a kunai in her shoulder and her eyes traced down her arm, noting all the blood that had trickled down her arm. She smirked, "Well… that bastard _actually_ managed to hit me…" She mumbled as she grabbed the kunai from her shoulder. "Hey, Sakura-cha..." He trailed off as he watched Sakura rip the kunai from her shoulder without even batting an eyelid. Naruto panicked. "Sasuke-teme, we gotta help her!" Naruto yelled as he began to run in circles. Sasuke rolled his eyes and hit him over the head, "Calm down, Dobe. Just take her to the hospital." Naruto nodded and grabbed Sakura by her good arm and pulled her in the direction of the hospital and Sasuke followed after them.

Sakura just let Naruto drag her to the hospital. Though at the time she let her mind wander, '_How did I not notice the kunai in my shoulder…? Possibly from the adrenaline, but I should have at least felt the blood… Maybe he's better that I thought…_' She continued to let her mind wander and when the familiar scent of anaesthetic wafted into her nose she came to. Naruto had just walked out and a nurse walked in the room she was in. "Haruno-san, I need you to remove your shirt so I can assess the damage." She said as she smiled slightly. Sakura didn't bother reply, but did as she was told to. She pulled off her shirt but left her sleeveless white vest on. The nurse stood over Sakura's shoulder and sent her chakra into Sakura's shoulder and assessed the damage. "The object that impaled your shoulder seems to have ripped your deltoid muscle a bit, but I can fix that." She said and Sakura felt the familiar warmth of the nurse's Chakra on her muscle. Sakura relaxed a little, and before she knew it, the nurse had finished. "Arigatou…" Sakura whispered as she stood up. She looked at the shirt and noticed all the blood down the arm. She sighed, she couldn't wear that. It would freak out all the villagers… Shrugging she slung the shirt over her shoulder and walked out. Naruto stood from his seat near the door and Sasuke pushed himself off the wall. "Are you okay now Sakura-chan!?" He questioned and Sakura nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine." She replied with a shrug and the trio walked out the Hospital. "Sakura-chan, do you wanna come for ramen with us?" Naruto asked and Sakura though for a moment. Shade flashed in her mind for a split second, "Ah what the heck! Sure why not?" Sakura replied and they made their way to Ichiraku Ramen.

When they got there they took a seat and ordered. "I'll take my usual!" Naruto called to Teuchi, the stand owner. Sasuke shrugged, "I'll have a shrimp ramen." Sakura grinned, "I'll take your chicken ramen please!" It didn't take long before their orders were placed respectively before them. They began to eat and Naruto filled the silence with his usual rambling. Sakura finished her bowl and looked at the clock that hung on the other side of the counter. "8.50…? Wow, it's late… I gotta go guys." Sakura spoke before putting some money down on the table. "Thanks for the meal, Teuchi! Thanks for keeping me company Naruto, Sasuke. I'll see you guys tomorrow." Sakura spoke and she waved as she left the Ramen Stand. Sakura took to the rooftops to get home quicker. She landed in front of her door and she unlocked it. "Shade…?" She called out. She got no reply from the Chibi demon which worried her. She wandered into the kitchen and saw Shade sitting on the table. His head hung low and his small frame shivered. Sakura felt worry wash over her body as she ran over to him. "Shade! Are you okay!" she called as she picked up Shade. "**Sakura-chan…?**" He looked up and his eyes looked glossy with tears. "**My head… it hurts… so much…**" He whispered as his body shook.

His small hands wrapped around Sakura's thumb. He squeezed as he let out a loud scream of pain. Sakura panicked. "What do I do…? What do I do?!" She chanted as she sent healing Chakra into Shade's body. For a split second she felt fire heat up against her Chakra. Shade's body is rejecting her Chakra. Shade's once marshmallow white hair began to bleed red and Sakura felt Shade's grip on her thumb tighten more and another scream ripped from his throat. "Shade… What should I do…?" Sakura felt a tear slip from her eye when her thumb was released from Shade's grip. He fell forward. "S-Shade…?" He didn't respond. Sakura turned him over and noticed his heavy breathing. She pressed a finger to his forehead and felt his burning temperature. She rested him on the table and ran to the freezer, pulling out ice cubes and she wrapped them in tissue, resting it on his forehead. Sakura gently lifted Shade and took him upstairs. She rested him on the bed and watched as his eyes closed.

Sakura stayed up most of the night, taking care of Shade. "**Oi.**" Sakura heard but she turned her head. "**Oi, woman, I'm hungry. Make me something to eat.**" She heard again. Sakura felt herself inwardly twitch. She raised her head in annoyance and looked at the origin of the voice. Her sleepy emerald orbs locked with a pair of bi-coloured eyes, one red and one yellow. "Who the hell are you?!" She spoke, her eyes narrowing dangerously, "And what did you do with Shade." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. For all she could know, the demon sent from someone else who could be watching her every move right this instant. The Chibi demon smirked and sat down, "**I guess you can say I **_**am **_**Shade.**" Sakura glared, "You look nothing like Shade. How can I trust you?" She replied reaching for her staff. His reply caught her by surprise. "**How can I trust your Haruno Sakura – my master? You don't look like her.**" Sakura scowled as she turned to face herself in the mirror "What the hell are you-" She stopped. Her and rose to her hair which had been totally drained of colour. The pearl coloured locks moved with her fingers as she ran her hand through her hair. "What…?" She turned to 'Shade', "What have you done?!" His smirk only seemed to grow. "_**I**_** didn't do anything. This is just another one of Shade's powers he didn't know he had. Also, just to clarify, my name is Akise. I'm Shade's 'alter ego' – for lack of a better term.**" Sakura stared him in the eye, '_Well, he doesn't seem to be lying…_' She shrugged. "Alright, I'll believe that theory for now then. So tell me, why is my hair white." Another statement passed her lips, one with stern authority. Akise ginned, "**That is simple is a sense but difficult to explain.**" Loud groans escaped from the Chibi Demon's stomach. He laughed sheepishly, pointed canines shown proud. "**But can we eat? I'm hungry.**" He continued and Sakura simply walked out the room with him hot on her trail.

The duo sat down at the table, eating. Sakura took a sip of her drink and looked at Akise. "So, tell me, what's with my hair. Pink with blonde was weird enough, now altering colours, to white no less!" Sakura spoke. Akise chuckled. "**Like I said, the reason is simple, but slightly difficult to explain.**" He began. He crossed his legs and took a breath. "**Basically, as Demons and Masters are directly connected to each other after the choosing, some of the things that happen to demons happen to their masters, like now and vice versa. For example, if a master dies, so does their demon, unless some extreme miracle happens or granted so by Lucifer-sama, which essentially **_**is**_** a miracle.**" Akise stopped there and took a breather and a drink. While he did so, Sakura ran the information through her head again. "So basically, whatever happens to me happens to you and that works the other way around?" She asked and Akise nodded in reply. "**Pretty much, but I need to tell you about **_**our**_** situation. The reason your hair is white is because of our shared bond. I guess you can say that Shade's more innocent of a demon than I am. I'm more of his pent up rage and bloodlust. The only reason **_**you**_** haven't gotten all angry and all is that I haven't fully changed into me.**" Akise pointed at his eyes. Sakura nodded, taking in the information well. "So basically, because Shade's eye is still present you haven't fully changed into Akise…?"

Akise smirked, "**Yeah, pretty much, but because more of my features are present I'm the one in charge. On the other hand because Shade still has minimal possession over our body, you haven't received the effects of our transit, that's potentially the reason I don't feel as angry as usual at the moment. Overall, you can call me out when you need me, but it won't cause Shade any pain.**" Akise smirked and stood up. He closed his eyes and the red seemed to wash away and the familiar marshmallow white returned. Sakura popped a grape into her mouth as she watched as a pair of ruby eyes locked onto hers. "**Sakura-chan! What happened?**" the confused look on his face was too adorable so Sakura scooped him up and hugged him. "Damn it Shade, why are you so adorable?!" She mumbled and she felt his little cheeks heat up. "Anyway, what happened was that you unlocked a new… _power _shall we say…" She spoke. Shade slipped from her grip and floated opposite her face. "**What do you mean by 'power'**" Sakura sighed as she leaned back in her chair and popped another grape in her mouth. "You have an alter ego. His name is Akise. He's basically all of your built up anger and bloodlust. I reckon that all one of the two was growing while I was away yesterday and then Akise had decided it was time to take control." Shade's mouth took the shape of an 'O' as he nodded in understanding. "**Sorry to cause you so much trouble, Sakura-chan…**" He mumbled and Sakura laughed, "It's not a problem, I have to take care of you, you are my responsibility and I hold you dear. Now I have to get ready I was supposed to meet my team half an hour ago." She spoke smiling.

Within the next twenty minutes Sakura had changed into black basketball shorts and a tight white tank top under baggy black tee and had gone to meet her team. Kakashi arrived an hour and a half later. That day was spent doing ordinary chores that ordinary citizens could do, Chores labelled as D-rank missions. Sakura shook her head as she watched Naruto uproot every thing the old lady's garden. An image of a cat popped into Sakura's head: Tora. She remembered that mission all too well; especially how Tora practically filed her nails using Naruto's face. Sakura chuckled inwardly before lining up next to her two team mates to receive their pay from the Old woman. Kakashi stood waiting for them at the gate. "That's it for today team! We'll meet tomorrow: usual time." They all nodded and everyone went their separate ways. Sakura took to the roofs to get home quickly. She reached home quickly and headed into the living room. She pulled of necklace and her kunai pouch and placed them on the coffee table. She proceeded to take out the souls she reaped from her recent brawl and placed them on the table. The black miasma leaked from her open kunai pouch and proceeded to ascend from the malevolent soul of Ito Daichi. She pulled out the papers that Afael delivered to her and began reading. Shade entered the room and sat on the coffee table with a bowl of grapes and blueberries. "**What you up to Sakura-chan?**" She looked up at Shade and shown him the papers. "I think tomorrow is when I get my 'first' C-rank mission, which is to the Wave Country. I know that on that mission two people get sent to Hell: Momoichi Zabuza and Gato of Gato Transport. I want to see if their souls are worth reaping." She spoke as she flipped a page and she stopped for a second. "Ooh look here! This is just what I'm after!" She cheered as she began reading the words on the paper aloud. "Momoichi Zabuza: worth M15,000. That's quite a bit, though hopefully his soul won't have as much miasma as Delta here. I think I'd choke." She spoke, as she flipped through the pages a little more. Shade felt a smile creep on his face. "**So what's Zabuza like…? What's his fighting style like? C'mon Sakura-chan, tell me!**" Shade pleaded in excitement. Sakura smirked, "He uses a sword, so I think our staff will be a bit a disadvantage." Sakura thought back to the katana that Delta had used before she beheaded him. "That might work… but it'll need enhancing." Shade shot her a confused look, as he opened his mouth to ask Sakura raised her hand. "I'll be right back, I need you to start opening a portal to the Inferno." Sakura spoke and Shade nodded dumbly in return, not fully understanding what Sakura was thinking at the current point in time. Shade shrugged nonetheless and called upon his power. He lowered himself to the wooden floor and began chanting in old demon tongue. Sakura ran back into the room with her black cloak and the katana. She picked up her belongings from the coffee table and put them in her cloak. She kneeled down next to Shade, her eyes closed in concentrated as she recited the same chant as her demon. She soon felt herself being pulled downwards, towards Hell.

When she opened her eyes Sakura was met with all-too-familiar floating red steps and she almost smiled. She began striding down the steps, three at a time with Shade perched on her shoulder. When she reached the bottom of the stairs she looked up at the huge castle that was before her. "Hm, maybe I should have gone to the throne room straight away instead of down here…" Sakura mumbled to herself. Shade shrugged from his place on her shoulder, "**Either way, we should get going.**" He replied and Sakura just hummed before walking towards the castle's entrance. Sakura didn't manage to get far before she heard her name get called from behind her. She turned and saw another familiar face, one she met during her months training before she returned to the past. "Videtta?" she asked as the girl advanced towards her. Her short black hair fluttered as she ran. Her visible yellow eye glistened. "**Sakura-chan, it's good to see you, and you too Shade. Where are you headed?**" Videtta spoke as she slowed to a walk as she neared Sakura and Shade. Sakura held her arm out, moving the cloak out the way, showing Videtta the katana. "I need to get this enhanced. It's not strong enough to withstand the battle I'm going to have sometime in the week." She replied as they walked into the castle together. "**Lemme see that katana a sec…**" Videtta spoke and Sakura swiftly handed it over. She let out a low whistle. "**This katana's pretty good for saying it was forged by a mortal. I can give ya an upgrade if you want, free of charge! Unless your after something extremely powerful, then you're gonna have to head to Rozenraen's.**" Videtta explained as she gave the katana another once-over before handing it back to Sakura. "**Where'd you get it anyway?**" She added questioningly. Sakura glanced up at the names of the stalls that littered the paths of the castle. (If you've seen/played Disgaea then it's kind of like that) "One of my targets had it. Anyway, I might take you up on that offer. Can you upgrade this to be about as powerful as Kubikiribōchō?" Sakura asked, thinking of the sword Zabuza wielded. "**As in **_**THE**_** Kubikiribōchō: one of the Seven Swords of Hell?!**" Videtta screamed in surprise. Sakura shrugged as she turned the corner, finally reaching Lucifer's throne room. "I don't see what the big deal is." Sakura mumbled as she pushed the door open and walked in. Videtta didn't follow her in. She shut the door and turned to face Lucifer.

A wave of nostalgia hit her when Lucifer's eyes locked onto her own and his cocky smirk tugged at his lips. "Lucifer," She began as she bowed. When she stood up straight the man was already standing a few centimetres away. Sakura fought back a blush. "I've come to claim my reward." She continues as she held the two souls between her fingers. A low chuckle ripped from Lucifer's throat. Sakura watched as he licked his lips. Sakura could almost see the glee that lit up in his eyes. "**Terrific! The amount of miasma that's leaking from that one, it's simply wonderful! I didn't think that there were any of these malicious mortals left.**" He spoke as he took them from her fingers. Sakura rolled her eyes, "Oh trust me. There is still a hell of a lot left." She spoke, in her head familiar faces flashed by. Orochimaru and Kabuto were the main two she was thinking of. Lucifer stroked the side of her face, "**How do you want your reward, Sakura…?**" Sakura failed to suppress the second blush that had risen to her cheeks. Lucifer smirked at her expression before pressing his lips to hers. Sakura didn't react out of shock and Lucifer pulled away. Sakura turned even redder and another low chuckle escaped his lips. Shade watched the scene with amusement but decided it was time to speak – seeming as Sakura was in a 'daze' shall we say? "**Lucifer-sama, Sakura-chan needs to enhance her blade: to be roughly as strong as the Kubikiribōchō.**" Shade began as he bowed. He pulled Sakura's cloak aside enough for Lucifer to see the Katana. Said man reached for the blade and observed it thoroughly. His eyes narrowed as his eyes trailed from the hilt to the tip of the blade. He stepped away from Sakura and took a few swings with it. "**The blade is decent, but for it to be anywhere near the standards of one of the Seven Swords of Hell you'll need to take this to Rozenraen's.**" Lucifer spoke when he returned the katana to Sakura, who had snapped out of her daze. She took the sword from him and replaced it under her cloak. "Arigatou, Lucifer." She spoke as she turned to leave. "**Visit me again soon, Sakura.**" The way her name rolled off his lips made her shiver, and she could feel his eyes on her as she walked out the room. Videtta pushed herself off the wall next to the door and brushed the imaginary dust from her knee length black dress. "**Finally, so what happened then?**" She asked; Sakura felt a light blush dust her cheeks and she walked faster, "We need to go to Rozenraen's." Videtta let a smirk pass her lips, but stayed quiet.

The two eventually reached Rozenraen's Blacksmith on the other side of the castle. They walked in the shop. There were numerous weapons that lined the walls and shelves. "**Rozen, you've got a customer!**" Videtta called and a door opened from behind the counter. A tall man walked out, ducking to avoid hitting his head on the door frame. His tanned muscular frame was hunched over when he looked at the girls. "**What can I do for you?**" His brown eyes looked at Sakura. "I need you to make this Katana," Sakura began as she pulled the Katana from her cloak "As strong as the Kubikiribōchō." Rozenraen looked at her with a shocked look. He ran a hand though his dark brown hair, "**I don't know if I can make it as strong as Kubikiribōchō but I can try, I'll need your help Videtta. It'll need more that just enhancing but re-crafting too. When do you need it for?**" Rozen asked and Sakura crossed her arms, "Tonight before I leave would be great, but from the sounds of it, doing all that within what… Two, maybe three hours? Seems impossible. Like I said, if you can do it for tonight that would be great. If you need more time, then tomorrow: midday at the latest. How much is this gonna cost me Rozenraen?" Sakura replied, preparing herself for the high prices. "**Just call me Rozen. The standards you want are pretty high, so naturally the price will be relatively high. Around M42,000 to be exact and this is just for me. So there's that and whatever Videtta wants from you. Is that okay with you Miss…**" He trailed off and Sakura realised she hadn't given him her name. "Haruno Sakura, just Sakura is fine though. Yeah, that's fine but can I pay you in instalments, Lucifer hasn't given me my money for my recent reaping and there's a few more that I have to do so I should have enough money to pay it off." Sakura explained. Rozen nodded, "**That's fine, but what about Videtta?**" He asked and Sakura turned to Videtta. "Is that offer still up?" She asked as she handed Videtta the katana and said girl nodded, "**Yeah, Rozen, let's get to work!**" Rozen's head bobbed up and down and the duo walked into the back room. "I'm gonna head to the tavern, I'll be there until ten!" She called just before the door shut behind them.

Sakura headed to the outskirts of the castle and towards the tavern, 'The Cursed Crusade' and walked in. The bar was relatively full, more so with tenants who were staying the night upstairs than the drinkers. Sakura sat at the bar and Shade sat on the table. She ordered a glass of red wine for herself and some blueberries for Shade. Not even a minute later the order was gracefully placed before them. "Arigatou…" She mumbled as she took a sip of her wine. She rested her head on the palm of her hand as she watched Shade slowly devour the blueberries she ordered for him. "Shade…" Sakura called, and he turned her way, just as he was about to eat another blueberry. "Do you want to go back and reap a soul today? It might be a while until we can officially go wild when we go back tonight." Sakura spoke as she turned her eyes back to her red wine. Shade swallowed, "**If I'm totally honest, I don't really mind Sakura-chan. I mean – if that mission your going on tomorrow has people who have souls for me to eat then I don't really mind. I can get my fill from there.**" Shade spoke as he began to eat the last blue berry. Sakura sighed and her head hit the table. A sudden sense of fatigue fell over her. "Damn, why do I feel so tired…?" Sakura thought back to the nights where she stayed up late and couldn't sleep. "Must be catching up with me…" She whispered, an image of Lucifer flashed in her mind and shot upright, red tinted her cheeks. It wasn't long before the tiredness returned. "Shade, we're leaving…" She mumbled before downing her wine and placing money on the table. She walked out and Shade followed after her. Together they headed to the entrance of the castle and they summoned the steps so they could return to Konoha. Sakura immediately headed up the stairs and into her room, throwing her cloak over the chair at her desk and collapsed on the bed. "I seriously need to find a more efficient way of getting down there…" She muttered before she fell into the land of dreams.


	4. Chapter 4

CL: Considering that it's been over a month since I uploaded I decided to bring you two chapters instead of one! I had been writing this one up while I was on the move, (via mobile, tablet etc) but I had to copy the file over to word to do any checks so the grammar was okay, no spelling mistakes – that sort of thing. Considering that I was writing this on the move, it was hard for me to tell whether I had wrote more that 4,000 words (that's the minimum I want to write per chapter.), so my apologies if It's shorter than I expected. I'm also really sorry for the late update, but I have two weeks of starting Monday April 1st, so I want to try and get Chapter 5 done as well, but I'll have to fit it in with my studying. Please keep voting on the poll on my profile! Thank you!

"Speaking"

'_Thoughts'_

'**Inners/ demons/etc'**

"**Demons"**(From Hell)

'_**Demon's Thoughts**_' (From Hell)

_Flashbacks_

"_Song lyrics"_(If I have any…)

(Authoress notes)

_(If there's anything I've missed, tell me in a review or PM me and I'll rectify it as soon as possible)_

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**Chapter 4: **_**The Country of the Waves.**_

Sakura was reluctant to get up that morning. She eased herself up and leaned against the head board. She sighed running a hand through her hair as she remembered last night's events. Seeing Videtta, meeting Rozen, seeing Lucifer, and that kiss… Sakura felt her cheeks heat up and she threw the blankets of her frame angrily and stormed to the bathroom, grabbing what she needed on the way. She turned the shower on hot, and she peeled away her clothes before stepping in the shower. "Damn it Sakura! Get that kiss out of your head! It probably doesn't mean anything to him anyway…" She trailed off as she leaned her head on the tiled walls. There was silence; the only thing Sakura could hear was the sound of the shower and the water hitting her body. Sakura's hand moved towards the soap and she began to wash herself. She soon finished up and she felt that all her fatigue and negative thoughts had been washed away. She hurried into her room and changed into black shorts and a white tank top under a green tee shirt. She turned to the bed and noticed Shade was waking up, "C'mon sleepy head let's go eat." She called as she exited the room; Shade let out a small groan but followed her nonetheless. "**Can I eat some cherries? I ate all the blueberries last night before we left…**" Shade asked and she nodded, as they entered the kitchen. Shade helped himself to the cherries from the fridge. Sakura took to making herself tea. She placed a small cup next to Shade when he sat down. "Don't eat too fast." She chuckled, Shade smiled at her, "**I won't! Besides you can't eat cherries in the same way as blueberries.**" Sakura let a small giggle pass her lips before turning to her tea and taking a sip. It took her five minutes to finish and she put her cup in the sink before turning to the clock. She was a little early, "Shade, I'm gonna head out and buy some breakfast. Feel free to help yourself to the food, just don't touch the grapes." Shade nodded and continued to eat the cherries. Sakura pulled on her shinobi sandals and left, locking the door behind her.

Sakura made sure she passed by a Dango store on her way to the training grounds. She bought a box to go and quickly headed off to her original destination. When she reached she saw Naruto and Sasuke were already there. She walked over to them with a stick of Dango in her mouth. "Morning, want one?" She asked before taking another stick for herself. Naruto grinned as he took a stick, "Thanks, Sakura-chan!" He thanked as she moved the box towards Sasuke's direction. He looked at the box then to her, "I don't like sweets." Sakura forgot about that but shrugged, "Oh well, more for me." She spoke as she took another stick. She eventually finished the box and dumped it in a nearby trash can, she walked back and the trio waited for Kakashi to show. After what seemed like two hours – and what probably _was _two hours – Kakashi appeared with a poof of smoke, receiving his usual order of one lecture from Naruto and two icy glares from Sakura and Sasuke. His visible eye creased and he smiled their way, "We have a mission team!" Naruto immediately piped up, "What is it Kakashi-sensei!?" He yelled and Sakura felt her eye twitch when Kakashi explained, "We're looking for a missing cat, Tora. She has a red ribbon in her ear." He spoke handing them some earpieces. They all put them in and began searching. They eventually found the cat. Everyone's earpiece crackled to life, "Is everyone ready?" they heard Kakashi whisper. There was a brief pause before a voice spoke up. "Sasuke: Point B. Ready." Sakura sighed but filled in also. "Sakura: Point C. Ready." There was a moment of pause before Naruto attempted to burst their eardrums. "NARUTO: POINT A! Believe it!" Kakashi rolled his eyes, "You're slow Naruto. Target sighted! GO!" Kakashi called down the earpiece and his three pupils darted towards the cat. It managed to evade them but they gave chase. The cat kept giving them the slip and Sakura was beginning to tire of the time the cat was wasting. She took a sharp turn into an alley way and came out onto another street. "Naruto, Sasuke, make sure that cat takes a left into the next alley way!" She ordered down the earpiece as she ran along the other side of the building that Naruto, Sasuke and the cat were on. She reached the opening in the alley way and stood there in wait. She eventually saw a small shadow dart round the corner followed by two figures. She smirked as she made herself obvious. The cat jumped but Sakura made a move to catch her. "Gotcha!" She said as the cat began to struggle. "Shh, I won't hurt you." The cat began to calm down as Sakura began to stroke its fur. "ID Check, is the red ribbon in its left ear?" She heard Kakashi's voice in her ear. She checked and nodded, "Aa, it is." She replied, "Good, we'll meet at the Hokage's office then." Kakashi ordered and the three Genin made their way there.

When they reached the Hokage's office they watched the poor cat get squished by her owner. Sakura almost felt sorry for the cat. She tuned out the talking of the Hokage as she knew what he was talking to them about. She turned her thoughts to Videtta and Rozen. '_They have to get that katana to me before I leave…_' She thought and she decided it was a good time to start listening. "Alright then, prove to me you're not a little brat anymore, Naruto. I'll give you your C-rank mission." Sakura could visibly see the glow that Naruto was emitting in happiness. "Alright you can come in!" Sarutobi called and Tazuna rolled in, sake bottle in his hand. "I'm gonna be travelling with a bunch of brats, they don't even look like Ninja, especially the short one with the stupid face and what ninja has _pink _hair?" He insulted. Sakura narrowed her eyes in his direction. "I hope that's the drink talking, _sir. _I can assure you that I- we are capable ninja. So please don't mock us." She replied with a sickly sweet tone. Tazuna let a small shiver wrack his frame before turning to Sarutobi. "When do we leave Hokage-sama?" Kakashi asked and Sarutobi smiled. "You leave at Noon. You are all dismissed." He spoke simply and everyone walked out the office. Sakura looked at the clock. It wasn't long until noon. One hour and forty-two minutes to be exact. Sakura took to the roofs to get home swiftly. She immediately headed up the stairs to pack her bag. Packing: clothes, toiletries, scrolls, her papers and some spare weapons. Sakura rummaged through her closet for clothes to change into when she gets out the shower. She pulled out a pair of black shorts, another white tank top and a green camouflage jacket that cut off just below her breast. Sakura quickly took a shower, and changed into the outfit. She rolled the sleeves up to her elbow on her camouflage jacket and pulled her black cloak over her shoulder, not wanting to put it on just yet. She walked into the kitchen and called for Shade. "**Sakura-chan, what's up?**" He asked as he appeared in a burst of flames. She went to the fridge and pulled out some grapes, and began eating. "I'm taking you on this mission don't forget. I could care less if my team mates see you but if they ask, you are just a summon." She spoke as she chewed another grape Shade nodded. She looked at the clock and saw it was twenty minutes until they left. "Let's go now, we'll walk." Sakura spoke as she broke some grapes off their branches and carried them with her. Shade took his usual spot on her shoulder and they were on their way.

Sakura weaved in and out of both civilians and ninja in the busy streets and sighed. "Damn it, where is Videtta…?" She mumbled as she walked into a nearby store, buying some sweets, grapes and blueberries. She could feel that Shade was eyeing the blueberries as she put them in her backpack. "No, Shade. They're for later." She laughed when she heard his groan in her ear. When she stepped out the store, deciding it was less of a hassle, she ducked into an alley and took to the roofs; getting to her destination with seven minutes to spare. She jumped down near Naruto and greeted her team mates and her client. Kakashi had yet to arrive, as did Videtta. Sakura looked around as she saw a figure running in her direction. "Videtta! Took you long enough." She called running to meet her half way there. Her right eye was covered by white bandages and the hair that usually covered it was pinned up showing her sweaty forehead. She came to a stop and bent over with her hands on her legs, attempting to catch her breath. "**Took me *pant* long enough?! *pant* You do remember *pant* I'm not ninja! *pant***" Videtta stopped for a breather, and stood upright. "**I can't do any of that fancy roof jumping and wire running that you ninja do. Anyway, here, took us all night but we think it'll be good enough.**" Sakura watched as she pulled an object from her back covered in a green cloth. She held it out to Sakura who eagerly took it. She pulled the green cloth from it and stared in awe as she pulled the blade from its new metallic red sheath. The sun shone on the blade as Sakura observed it. Aside from the obvious extra two inches in thickness and five inches in length Sakura thought the blade was beautiful but had no idea what it could do. She sheathed it and attached it to her side. "So what did you do to it then?" She asked curiously. Videtta shrugged with a grin on her face, "**When Rozen re-forged it everything went weird. He forged it into a certain shape it would change into liquid metal and then back into a block of metal. It was so frustrating, but when Rozen forged it into that shape it didn't turn to liquid metal, it just… shimmered and hummed. When I got close it hummed louder and I figured it was from my power stones...**" Videtta trailed off, and looked at Sakura as she pulled her hair from the pins and it flopped back into its usual place. Sakura looked back to see if Kakashi was there yet, and he wasn't so she signalled for her to carry on. "**Sakura, it ate three of my power stones…**" She spoke softly. Sakura felt guilt wash over her. "Videtta, I'm sorry! How much will it cost for me to buy them back?" Sakura spoke. She pulled out her purse, and looked though the other side of it where she kept her Macca. "**Sakura… It's fine.**" She spoke and Sakura forced the money into her hand, "There's M14,000 there! M8,000 for Rozen's instalment and the rest is yours! I know how much power stones mean to you Videtta, and I'm not going to sit by and let you be short on them because of me!" Sakura argued and Videtta smiled, "**Thanks, Sakura. You didn't have to but you did anyway. I'll never know how you got down there. You're too nice…**" Videtta spoke before walking away. Sakura felt the guilt eat away at her as she returned to her team. She didn't bother look at them. Just as Naruto was about to speak up, Kakashi appeared and told them they were to head out immediately.

Sakura pulled on her black cloak but left her hood down. She noticed Shade had disappeared from her shoulders so she assumed he went to his 'space' as she called it. It felt like they were walking for hours and Sakura spotted that familiar 'puddle' on the road side and pretended to think nothing of it. Just like last time, they popped up and torn Kakashi to shreds – or his log replacement but they didn't realise that. The demon brother charged and Sakura noticed both Naruto and Sasuke had frozen. '_Shit, that didn't happen in the last timeline!_' Sakura glared as she re-enacted what Sasuke did. Like last time they broke their chain off, one headed to Naruto and Sasuke, the other to Tazuna. "I won't let you!" Sakura cried as she felt a burst of speed explode from her limbs and she appeared under the demon brother. She felt the familiar fiery feeling tingle in her leg as she sent a blazed kick towards his head that not only knocked him unconscious but gave him some burns on the side of his face. She turned to see the other demon brother in a headlock in Kakashi's arm, passed out. "Good job Sakura! My apologies to you two, I didn't expect you to freeze up like that." Kakashi spoke and Sakura just tuned him out. '_Damn it. Why did Sasuke freeze up? That didn't happen last time. What could be the reason…?A paradox of sort…?C'mon Sakura think! Wait-!_' Sakura was literally pushed from her thoughts when Naruto pushed her forward, "C'mon Sakura-chan! Everyone's already gone!" He called as he ran to catch up with the rest. Sakura picked up her pace after deciding it was better to think about it in a safer place than where she was. She caught up with the group and noticed Sasuke glaring daggers at her. She rolled her eyes. '_Jealous the spotlight isn't on you for once?_' She thought as she ignored him and followed the rest of the group to the water where the mist grew so thick that she could almost eat it. They all clambered onto the boat and the man rowed as silently as he could in the mist to avoid detection. It took a while but they reached their destination. Tazuna thanked the man and they began walking.

Soon enough the battle with Zabuza took place. "Duck!" Kakashi yelled as he tackled Tazuna to the floor. Both Sasuke and Sakura dragged Naruto down with them as the large butcher-knife like sword flew overhead and embedded itself into a nearby tree. Zabuza appeared and stood on his sword. He locked eyes with every single member of the team before his eyes landed on Kakashi, who ushered them back, "He's on a whole other level! I might even have to use this to defeat him!" Kakashi spoke as he pulled up his headband revealing his Sharingan eye. "Well, what do you know. Kakashi of the Sharingan eye." Zabuza spoke as he jumped down to the ground, dislodging his sword at the same time. "Sharingan Sharingan! All I keep hearing is Sharingan, will someone please explain to me what it is?!" Naruto yelled in confusion and Sasuke explained it to him. "Team, Triangle formation!" Kakashi called as he jumped into battle. Sakura stood behind Tazuna, Naruto was to his right, Sasuke his left. Sakura knew by now that the battle was reaching its climax and that Kakashi was about to be captured. "Team, take Tazuna and run!" Kakashi called from his position in the ball of dense water. His line sparked argument in Sasuke and Naruto. They thought up a plan, but they had trouble getting past Zabuza's clone. "Naruto!" Sakura called, she saw the blond look in her direction. "Create a couple clones to protect Tazuna, I'll hold off this clone so you can execute the plan!" She called, she didn't wait for Naruto's reply she just charged towards the clone, pushing Sasuke out the way of an attack he didn't see. "I've got you covered. Now go help Naruto!" Sakura called over her shoulder to Sasuke. He sent a smirk her way and went to join Naruto. Both she and the Zabuza clone stood there for a moment staring each other in the eye, willing the other to back down. '_Let's see if this katana can hold its own._' Sakura though as she drew it from its sheath. They charged and Sakura blocked an attack form her left, pushing chakra into her arms to avoid her crumbling under the weight of Zabuza and the Kubikiribōchō. She pushed herself away and ducked to avoid a roundhouse kick. She wasn't expecting Zabuza to come back round so quickly, slicing upwards. Sakura leaned backwards but the Kubikiribōchō cut her across her stomach, ripping through her white tank top and exposing her stomach where the number '11' was written in slanted gothic font (I decided to slip it in here cause I forgot to in earlier chapters.) Sakura slapped her hand to stomach and didn't feel any pain. She let out a breath of relief. She charged towards Zabuza, her blade clashing with his. She saw her blade shimmer in the corner of her eye and she pushed Zabuza of her with a burst of Chakra. His arms flew up and surprise and Sakura slashed his across his abdomen to his shoulder. The Zabuza clone dispersed into water and she noticed the purple droplets in the water. She sheathed her sword and made her way back to Tazuna. When she got back she was just in time to see a senbon hit the real Zabuza in the neck. She saw Haku appear and thank them before taking Zabuza's body with him. She stayed quiet the whole time and they began on their way again. Not even ten steps away, Kakashi fell face first to the floor, unconscious. Naruto and Sasuke lifted them him up, as Tazuna directed them to his house.

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CL: I'm gonna stop here because I want to explain some things before everyone gets confused. I'm gonna explain Hell, and what it's like there basically, because I don't want people getting things mixed up too much, some of the characters (Character profiles which will be introduced for every new Character that has some significance), and some of the things there without giving too much of the plot away. I don't care if you skip this, but don't complain that I haven't told you about something and its here.

Basically Hell is a place where Lucifer reigns. It's the place where people who are rejected by God go (Unless Hell doesn't want them. Then they're pretty much fucked. xD). Hell has three purposes: to house the dead that didn't make it to Heaven, to house Soul Eaters or Soul Reapers (whichever sounds more appealing.) and to give punishment to sinners and malevolent souls for whatever amount of time they need to serve (Like a prison sentence) which could be 100 hundred years, it could be eternity. At the end of their sentence they are judged and are either burned in the inferno or made into workmen/workwomen in Hell.

The job of a Soul Eater/Reaper is that they have to collect the souls of the damned and the souls of the people who had sold their own and other people's souls and bring them to hell. There are three types of Soul Eaters/Reapers. There are Melee Reapers, who use weapons. Crafted Reapers, who use runes and power stones as a source of Magic (Runes are more powerful but are old and hard to find). Lastly there are Psychic Reapers, who use their minds to move objects to their advantage, (telekinesis basically). Sakura is a Melee Reaper and Videtta is a Crafted Reaper. The job has ranks in which are gained though the amount of souls you've gathered. Ranging from the lowest of the low – Soul Eater – to the top of the ladder – Soul Reaper. (This will come into play in later chapters) Sakura herself only just starting in the job is a Soul Eater, whereas Videtta who's been doing the job for a little longer is a rank higher, a Soul Devourer.

Next I want to explain the Chronos Games. It is just a game purely for Lucifer's entertainment. It requires participants in groups of ten to take place, and each 'contender' is given a number in according to their strength. The only digit that matters is the unit which range from 1 – 0 (so 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0) 1 being the strongest, 0 the weakest. The aim of the game is to keep your shard safe or collect the other 9 shards. You have to fight another contender of the Chronos Game in order to retrieve a Chronos Shard. If you win, you obtain all the shards your opponent owns, if you lose you lose your shard and any others you own. If you lose your shard you still have to participate in the Chronos Games by winning a match and the Chronos Shard(s) of the loser. If you lose when you don't have any Chronos Shards then you loose your right to live. If you collect the other nine shards then you are given anything you want but if you lose your shard to another contender, then when the game is over (which is when someone has all 10 shards or when Lucifer calls: Game) Like when you lose two times in a row in the Chronos Games you lose your right to live and Soul Reapers are sent to retrieve you and you are taken back to Hell with no way of returning to the land of the living unless Lucifer grants so. If you still have your Chronos Shard you are given a choice whether you want to remain as the dead or become a Soul Reaper. The length of the Chronos Games depends on the contestants and Lucifer's word.

Character Profiles:

**Videtta von Sorrow** (A self-given name). She was a young girl who was killed at 17 for her unreligious ability to use runes (whatever stage of life you die at, you remain at in hell.). At the time, it was believed that the people who used runes held all the power in their right eye. When Videtta was found the people gauged her out her right eye and they believed it was the end of it and let her live. After that ordeal she was shunned by her village but proceeded to take care of a young child she found until that child was killed because the village thought she was brining the child up to use runes. The result of it was that she took her own life in hopes that she could protect the child in the afterlife but she found that she couldn't go where the child went (heaven) and was taken to hell. This was when she became a contestant in a previous Chronos Game, her digit was 5. She went back in time to find someone to protect the child, but this time she was forced to use her runes when people came after her for her Chronos Shard. She ran away, fighting other Chronos Children until Lucifer called game. She still had her Chronos Shard so she still had a choice so she became a member of the dead, living under the house of a blacksmith (not Rozenraen) before deciding she wanted to put her ability to use runes to use as a Soul Reaper.

**Rozenraen Whiterose**. He was a boy born into a rich family. As an only child he was often spoiled by his parents and had many maids and butlers at his finger tips. He was given a good education and he had a good understanding of things. He never saw people work other than when his parents did paperwork and talks with other rich family heads. He one day stumbled on a man working in a blacksmith store when he was being taken to another rich family house. He was a curious boy and was intrigued by 'work' that people did and wanted to try it himself. His parents were dead-set against it but he was stubborn. As a young boy he did simple things that couldn't really be called work: watering flowers, setting the table, collecting his dirty laundry. As he got older and he grew taller he took on more hard work, such as mining, field work, and what he loved most: working in a blacksmith. When he was 17, almost 18, he was married off to another rich family's daughter and he didn't like it so he busied himself with work and never got to see her, this went on for three years. Everyday of those three years he went back to his parent's home to complain and one day there was a soul reaper there who had come to collect his soul. He said to him: "I've come for your soul. You had been sold to Hell before you had even been conceived. Your soul had be sold for fortune and luxury by your family's beginning." With that Rozenraen had been taken to Hell, but was given the option to be apart of the dead or a Soul Reaper, he had chosen to be a member of the dead. This was because he could continue to do what he loved and he could learn the ways of Demon Smithing and create weapons on a whole other level than before which Soul Reapers could use.


	5. Chapter 5

CL: Well, I hope you all enjoyed the double upload! I've been busy lately with studying and such. I recently listened to the soundtrack from the game NieR, I really like it and I think it's quite beautiful. Anyway, I'm really curious how long it will take me to finish this, so I hope you all can bear with me and read this until the end! Many thanks to the reviewers and the voters! It means a lot and I hope you all keep voting and reviewing! Voting ends when I upload Chapter 6 so that will be a while! Once again: Sorry for the wait!

"Speaking"

'_Thoughts'_

'**Inners/ demons/etc'**

"**Demons"**(From Hell)

'_**Demon's Thoughts**_' (From Hell)

_Flashbacks_

"_Song lyrics"_(If I have any…)

(Authoress notes)

_(If there's anything I've missed, tell me in a review or PM me and I'll rectify it as soon as possible)_

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**Chapter 5: **_**Of Falsehood, Splendour, Vigour and Valour.**_

When Sakura woke up that night she stared up at the ceiling, letting her thoughts wander. She eventually settled on what she had begun to try to figure out during the team's run in with the Demon Brothers. '_Everything is changing… Why? Is it because I'm stronger this time…? Maybe it's because of the Chronos Games?_' Sakura's hand grazed against where her tattoo was: a label that she was given to brandish her strength. '_That could be it… Seeming people are now doing things in this timeline that didn't happen previously, it's only natural that unusual things will happen but if that's the case… then what else has changed?_' Sakura sat up and looked around the room. Both Naruto and Sasuke were sleeping peacefully. She strained her eyes to read the clock on the wall: 1:17. Sakura sighed, pulling the sheets off her frame; she stood up near the window and saw her weapon near the bed. She picked it up, climbed out the window and onto the roof. She bathed in the moon's cold light and smiled as she unsheathed the blade from it metallic red sheath. "I never named you did I?" Sakura whispered and she watched the sword shimmer. She let her mind wander in thought of a name. "I'll name you: Rozen von Sorrow. After the two people that made you into what you are now." She said with a smile and the blade seemed to shimmer more than before. Sakura giggled as she felt like the blade was trying to communicate with her. Sakura watched as the blade's surface seemed to turn into a water-like substance. She squinted as she saw three demonic markings, each meaning a different thing. She read them from top to bottom, "Ve- no Poison! Flame and…" Sakura leaned in closer to the blade and the markings became clearer, "…Spark. Wait… Are these?!" An image of Videtta flashed in her mind and she felt the knot of guilt return to her stomach. "I have to give those back!" She whispered loudly as her hand shot towards the power stones. Before Sakura's hand could even get halfway the power stones seemed to sink back into to the blade and its water-like appearance faded back into the smooth metal it once was. Sakura's fingertips touched the blade, she sighed as she let her fingers glide across the cool metal. "Just what is this blade…?" She whispered to herself as she sheathed it. A cool breeze nipped at her exposed skin and she rubbed her hands on her arms, and suppressed a sneeze. "Damn, its cold, better get back inside…" She spoke as she picked up her named blade and jumped back into the room she shared with her two team mates.

When she softly placed her blade down she turned to be face to face with Sasuke. His charcoal black eyes bore into her emerald ones. "What were you doing?" he asked straight to the point. Sakura waved him off as she lay back down under her covers. When she relaxed she found Sasuke hovering over her, a glare present on his features. "What does it matter?" She spoke, staring back his at him with the same ferocity. "Something could have happened to you." He said as he looked away for a second but then back to the Sakura. She felt a laugh tickle at the back of her throat but decided against letting it out and settled for an unladylike snort instead. "Since when do you care about me, Sasuke?" her question was met with the simple reply of, "I don't." Sakura closed her eyes for a moment and thought back to the Sasuke of her previous timeline and then to her and her life now as a Soul Eater. "Good. The less you're involved with me, the better. Go to bed Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei will probably be training us in the morning." She spoke with great authority as she turned away from Sasuke and pulled up her covers in attempt to get to sleep. Sasuke let out a quiet, unsatisfied growl but went back to his own area of the room to go to sleep. In reality Sakura's eyes were wide open, listening in to the sounds the house made in the breeze, the sounds of rustling cloth and the sound the leaves made outside. There was no way she was getting back to sleep, not after waking up in the middle of the night, not after she saw Videtta's power stones in her blade and she was definitely not going to sleep after she concluded that time itself was beginning to fray from the many changes that had occurred at once within the timeline. Sakura closed her eyes, going into a state of mind where her body sleeps but her mind and senses are alert and ready. A trick she learned when she was training with Tsunade and it was one she wasn't likely to forget any time soon.

When Sakura 'woke up' she felt less burdened with her thoughts and ready to take on the day. She sat up and looked around the room. Naruto was sprawled out in his side of the room and Sasuke had his back to her. She shrugged and got up, taking some clothes and a towel to the bathroom. She took her time in the shower and when she got changed – knowing that she was the first one awake. She silently made her way back to her shared room and picked up her weapons and head band. She quickly scribbled a note and jumped out the window. Sakura soon found herself in a forested area and she unsheathed her blade, she mass-created clones of herself and smirked. "Come at me," and that they did. At the first swing of the blade Sakura felt invincible – sure she was facing her _own _clones but still. Valour is something she needs in battle alongside confidence. The two came as a pair and Sakura was feeling the both of them. She ducked under a punch from her clone before hitting it in the stomach with the hilt of the blade. It stumbled back and Sakura swung her sword down and it disappeared in a poof. When she looked around she saw she had defeated all the clones. She smirked and decided to go one on one with a Clone with higher chakra, power and control. She heard a louder poof and jumped away from a slash. She stared at her clone with its replica Rozen von Sorrow in its left hand. They locked eyes and Sakura re-drew her blade and spread her legs, ready to attack or evade. The clone was poised in the same position. Then they charged.

For any normal human, it would look like they were disappearing and reappearing and random sparks were flying. Sakura felt herself smirk as she pushed on her blade with more force, which her clone grunted under. The clone manoeuvred from under her and swung its sword upward. Sakura let out huff when she forced herself backward and the tip of the blade skimmed over her jaw line to the middle of her cheek. She jumped to the left avoiding a kick that followed. Sakura felt herself skid to a stop – "Wow, I'm good! Heh, time to kick it up a notch…!" She mumbled loudly to herself as she stood upright and jumped towards her clone. The clone took on a defensive stance; two hands gripped the hilt of the blade firmly as Sakura darted from left to right, throwing wild, but precise, swings in all directions at her clone. The clone defended most of Sakura's swings but was nicked a couple of times. Her clone swung its sword up to counter but Sakura brought her sword with chakra enforced power and the clone collapsed. She quickly disarmed the clone, taking the win.

She dispersed the clone and took a seat under a tree. She gripped the demon-forged blade in her hand and sheathed it. The wind blew, rustling the trees and bushes. The sun just beginning to rise; she squinted slightly when the rays hit her eyes but she eventually began to relax and take in the sun's warmth. "So this is where you were…" The voice was deep, but soft. Sakura sat up, alert and ready for attack. Sakura jumped back into the middle of the battlefield to avoid being impaled by kunai. "Show yourself!" Sakura called from her crouched position in the centre of the field. The bushes rustled to her left and she turned her attention to that direction. A male stepped out; his hair was a strawberry red and seemed to sweep to the left. He seemed to be only a few years older than her, '_currently anyway_'. If she had to guess, she'd say he was nineteen maybe twenty. His steely blue eyes bore into her green eyes and he walked over to where his kunai were embedded into the ground. Sakura noticed the familiar chain that swung from his neck and the glittering shards that hung from it in their containers. "Who are you? Why are you here?" Sakura asked; her knees clicked as she rose into a standing position, ready to fight. He pocketed his kunai and looked in her direction, the necklace sat flush against his defined collar bone. He began walking towards her. Sakura backed up a little bit and clenched the hilt of her blade tighter. He stopped a few meters away. Sakura was finding it hard to breath, the tension was so thick. She swallowed, before speaking up again. "Answer my questions or you will be regarded as prey!" She spoke. The boy's hands flew up in his face, showing his exposed wrists, on his left he bore the initials H.S and H.H underneath. On the other wrist was that familiar gothic type, forged in the shape of a single digit. "Number 2… So you're definitely a Chronos Child then." Sakura mumbled to her self. He was deemed the second strongest of his batch, but was he stronger than her? Was he weaker? Or did they share equal strength? Sakura's eyes narrowed in caution. "I'm not here for your shard. I already have 6, so I'm good for now." He let his arms fall limp next to his sides and he smiled, "I've been looking for you for a while now, Sakura-chan!" Said girl's eyes widened at the mention of her name. She jumped back, putting more distance between them. "My name is Hibiki…"

When Sasuke opened his eyes; he immediately took note of the snoring from his male companion. He sat up and glared over the room at him. He ran a hand through his hair and looked across the room. No sign of Sakura. He turned his glare to the clock that hung near the open window. "6am…? What is it with that stupid girl…?" He mumbled to himself as he stood up, walked to the window and closed it. He could feel Kakashi's chakra still inside, but he was awake. Sasuke took a shower and went downstairs and into the living room and picked up a book to pass the time until breakfast. About an hour into his book he could hear the footsteps of whom he thought to be Tsunami and Tazuna. Soon said pair came down the stairs and Tsunami apologised to Sasuke for not waking up sooner. He shrugged it off and continued his reading. In the next twenty minutes he felt Sakura's stressed and greatly fluctuating chakra. He flung his book into the sofa and quickly made his way into their shared room. It only took him seconds to get there, and he kicked the door open. Kakashi was stood near the dresser, Naruto was awake and he had a worried look on his face and finally his eyes came to Sakura.

She was sat on the bed, her knees were brought to her chest and she hid her face behind them. She was visibly shaking and mumbling to herself. "Sakura…" Kakashi spoke up and Sakura's head snapped up and they all saw the big stream of tears. "They lied to me…" She mumbled, her voice was broken, Sasuke could only assume it was from crying. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and only then did Sasuke notice the golden chain that swung from the palm of her hand. "Who lied…? Sakura-chan…?" Naruto asked in a whisper. She clenched her hand and the loose chain began to whirl from the intensity. "I… they… my parents didn't die… they _abandoned _me…" Sasuke saw Naruto flinch and Kakashi clench his crutches tighter. "Who told you this?" Kakashi asked as he stared Sakura down. "A boy… a mercenary…" Sakura spoke up and she opened up her palm and held it out. It was a locket. The males drew in closer to have a look as she opened the locket. There were two pictures. The first was of a boy with spiky red hair and a grin on his face, his blue eyes shined greatly and in his arms was a bundle of cloth, a sleeping newborn with locks of pink peeking out the top. In the other photograph was the same boy, a couple years older and a girl with Pink hair and large green eyes on his shoulders. On their left was a beautiful, fair-skinned woman with long platinum blond hair, and her sky-blue eyes were complimented by a ring of eyeliner. On their right was a tall, skinny but muscular man, his tan skin made his bright green eyes stand out. His red hair was tied in a low ponytail and hung over his shoulder. "That boy there in the pictures is my older brother. A brother I didn't know I had." Sakura's voice was stronger now, but she sniffed here and there. Sasuke looked up at her, "So… the mercenary you met earlier… It was your brother, wasn't it?" He asked and Sakura nodded. "Yeah… I'll tell you what happened. I was training earlier and I decided to take a break, I think this was at about six, the sun was rising. Anyway, he attacked me and I was ready to fight back when he just put his arms up and decided not to fight. He collected his kunai and told me to drop my guard. I didn't and he just kept coming closer… And then, he just smiled and said…"

"_I've been looking for you for a while now, Sakura-chan!" Said girl's eyes widened at the mention of her name. She jumped back, putting more distance between them. "My name is Hibiki… I'm your older brother." If Sakura's eyes widened anymore they'd fall out their sockets. "I don't believe you!" She screamed from her spot as her surprised look turned to one of fury and wrath. Sakura watched him pull something from his pocket: A simple golden locket. She blinked and found the object hurtling towards her. She caught it with her free hand. "Open it!" He spoke. Inside was two pictures. Sakura dropped her sword and her hand covered her mouth in shock. Tears threatened to spill over at any time. "This is... this is…" She mumbled over and over. She was in such a state of shock that she didn't even notice that Hibiki had come over and put his hand on her shoulder. "This is you when you were born… I was already five and a half then! And this one was about two years later with our _parents_." Sakura noticed the way he spat the word 'parents'. "What happened then…?" She questioned softly as she closed the locket and handed it back to Hibiki. "I don't know. A few days after that photograph you disappeared. When I asked all they could say was that they thought you had 'wandered off' or that you was with me. Eventually they decided to say that you were kidnapped." He stopped for a quick moment and looked at his younger sibling. To say she was shocked would be an understatement. He sighed and continued, "Being young, I had believed that, and I got angry and I ran, looking for you. I got lost on the outskirts of our village, but I soon made it back, but I was so hungry, so thirsty. When I walked through everyone was whispering bad things about me: about how 'foolish' I was, how 'stupid' I had become already. I cried. All the way home – only home wasn't there anymore; just a blaze of wood and glass. I spent a couple days on the streets, I was forced to beg and steal food to survive. Most people walked on by but there was an old couple that took pity on me, and they took me in for a while. They gave me food, clothes, shelter and… the truth…" He trailed off. Sakura looked up and she saw him gripping his shirt, where his heart was. "It still hurts – the truth I mean." He spoke when he locked eyes with her. Sakura felt her heart quicken at this 'truth' that he spoke of. "They… they abandoned us Sakura-chan… They didn't want us… They left us to die…" Sakura felt her heart skip a beat and her eyes well up with tears for a second time that hour. "W-what…?" She didn't want it to be true, but here it was, from the lips of her brother. He pulled her into a hug and let her cry into his chest. It felt like hours and she was still crying, but Sakura didn't want to accept that that was the harsh truth._

_Eventually she pulled away, "Sorry, I must seem like a cry baby…" She mumble, looking up. She saw some tears had leaked from his eyes too. He wiped them away quickly and smiled in her direction. "Since then I worked hard to earn money to pay back for what I stole. Eventually, when I grew older and a bit bigger, I started doing mercenary work. Just small things, at first, a gophers work one would call it, but as I grew older I did harder, more dangerous jobs: Slaying bears, finding rare animals, delivering items over long distances that some merchants couldn't make… that sort of thing." He fell back onto his rear end and smiled at her, "I was gonna set up camp here and I saw you here. I didn't mean to scare you." Sakura joined him on the floor, "It's fine, I'm a ninja, I should have sensed you." She smiled back, "What were you doing here anyway?" She asked shortly afterwards and he grinned, "I was looking for someone to give me a job – I was offered one from Gato actually… It was an assassination and to protect him if something goes wrong with said assassination. I didn't take the job though… Assassinations are too messy and not really my thing." Sakura nodded, but didn't say anything. A pregnant silence fell for a while. "How about coming to Konoha…?" She asked and he looked at her, then he grinned, "Sounds good, I'll think about it. But for now, I'm gonna catch some shut-eye. Oh, before you go…" He started, Sakura looked at him as she stood, "Keep this; I have one too, even if I don't like _them _being in the photo, I still have you in there, and I hope you feel the same. If I decide to go to Konoha, we'll get a picture together to replace that one." He spoke handing her the gold locket. Sakura smiled and took it gratefully, agreeing with his statement._

"And that was when I made my way back here. When I was about half way, everything he told me just came rushing back into my mind… then I broke down again. Hibiki was right… The pain doesn't fade but it will numb." She smiled, and she sighed, pocketing the locket, "It really does hurt to know that you were just abandoned, but there's nothing I can do now. I have my own mission to do. Sorry for worrying you guys…" She stood up and rummaged through her backpack and pulled out a scroll. "I'm gonna go clean myself up," She spoke and headed for the bathroom, leaving the males to wonder in their own thoughts.

'_I never knew Sakura had it so hard, I thought she was the normal one in this group. Well, that teaches me that I've _always_ got to look underneath the underneath.' _Kakashi thought to himself as he left the room and made his way down stairs. Naruto stared at the door Sakura and then Kakashi just walked through, the knowledge was still sinking in. _'Sakura-chan was an orphan too…? I never knew… but… then why… didn't I see her at the orphanage…?' _He thought to himself as he fell backwards and stared up at the ceiling. Sasuke crossed his arms, _'I guess we all have a demon to bear – though I don't know what Kakashi has, I know there's something.' _ He slumped against the wall and let silence overtake him. He closed his eyes, and leaned his head back onto the wall, reciting the information that Sakura had brought to light not even ten minutes ago. The silence between him and Naruto seemed to go on for hours until the sound of Tsunami's voice rang through the deafening nothingness and alerted them that breakfast was ready. The duo didn't exchange words – they just silently walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table.

Sakura dried her body off and clothed herself in a flexible outfit for later training. She sighed, and headed back into the bedroom to replace the scroll. "Empty… must be time for breakfast then." She mumbled to her self as she gracefully left the room and went down the stairs. "Good morning, everyone. Sorry to keep you waiting!" She spoke and put a big smile on her face, as she took the sole empty seat between her Genin team mates. Breakfast was loud and eventful until the topic of Inari's father came up. Another argument occurred over the table; Sakura remembered it from last time too. She zoned out – not bothering to listen, yet her eyes still watched the scene play out. She eyed Inari walk out the kitchen, his cheeks were red with anger and tears welled up in his eyes as he rounded the corner to his room. She turned her gaze to Naruto, who was quite red with rage himself. His fists were clenched and shaking in attempt to calm him down. Sakura sighed and stood up, "I'm going out for a while… I'll be back in an hour." She spoke, as she walked out the door and stopped at the front door, "Can I come with you Sakura-chan?" She heard Naruto call after her and she just hummed as she opened the door. Naruto trailed after her and they walked in silence for at least five minutes. "Why are you so quiet, Naruto? I think that's the longest ever!" She joked and said boy let a small laugh pass his lips. She turned her head to face him and he looked troubled to say the least. "Sakura-chan can I ask you something…?" He asked quietly as he looked up. Sakura stopped walking and gave him her full attention. "How… how do you do it? Stay so calm all the time…" Sakura blinked a few times and she let out a small chuckle. He looked at her, confused. "I stay calm because I have nothing to worry about. Yeah, we're ninja and we might lose our lives on the job, but…" She began and she clenched her fist, "You guys, my friends are my drive that keeps me going… I have to keep calm and keep a clear head because I know you and Sasuke won't!" She laughed and Naruto laughed with her, "I guess that's true!" He spoke through his laughter. It soon died out and Naruto looked her dead in the eyes. "There's one more thing though… How come I didn't see you at the Orphanage…?" Sakura's eyes darkened at Naruto's question and her mind was brought back to her surrogate parents. Naruto saw this and was about to apologize and put off his question but Sakura beat him to it. "It's fine Naruto. I don't mind…" She began as she walked over to a rock and sat down. She shuffled over and patted the space next to her and Naruto sat down.

"I was in the orphanage for about a month and a half; the All-Girls one in south Konoha before I got transferred to the one in East Konoha. I was only there for three months before I was told I had gotten a new home. I think they chose to get rid of me because of my lack of communication with the other orphans." Sakura recollected and Naruto watched her run a hand through her hair. "The surrogate parents the Orphanage had stuck me with were horrible to me. They forced me to work around the house doing the cooking, the dishes afterwards, the laundry, the gardening, and so on. The whole time they just lazed around. There were times that I'd get beaten because the dinner wasn't to their standards or I didn't clean the hallway properly, that sort of stuff. They kept me from going outside a lot, save for school and when they sent me to get groceries." She smiled. "I remember the day I told them I wanted to be a ninja. They didn't bother stopping me, surprisingly. That felt like a new breakthrough, a ray of hope. Everyday that was my salvation from tiresome work and beatings, but soon things got bad there too. I got bullied there too." She took a breather and the rest of the memories flashed by in her mind, and Naruto looked down at the floor. "But then, I made friends with Ino. Then over the years, we had grown, but Ino and I called off our friendship because of Sasuke… which we only restored the day after Graduation. But I'm straying from the point. Do you remember that day… when we took the test to become Genin…?" She asked and Naruto looked up at her, "Yeah, how could I forget, Iruka failed me, and you came in really late, with that ANBU." He replied a tad sorrowful about remembering having failed the test and the other incidents that had taken place the same night for him. "That day… My surrogate parents were killed. If I'm honest, I'm really thankful because I get to live freely now, without worrying about when I'm gonna be hurt when I walk home. It's a relief." Sakura looked up at Naruto and she could see that he was holding back the tears. "I guess we've all had it bad on this team…" He mumbled as he wiped his eyes and jumped up. "But all we can do now is: keep on moving forward!" He shouted with a grin, pumping his fist in the air. Sakura smiled and got up, patting off the small grains of rock and dirt. They began walking and chatting along their path. Sakura's hand unconsciously went to the necklace around her neck. "Hey, Naruto…" She called over his ramblings and he immediately stopped, replying with a "Yeah, Sakura-chan?" Sakura smiled.

"What would you do if you could… turn back time…?"

Naruto looked at her, baffled by her question. "You mean like, go back to when I'm younger?" He asked slowly to see if he got it right. She nodded, and an ear-to-ear grin broke out on his face. "I'd go back and be your friend sooner! Maybe I'd be friends with Sasuke-teme too! And maybe we could scout out Kakashi so we can be Team 7 from all the way back then!" He replied with a big grin and Sakura felt her heart twist and fill with happiness. A grin that rivalled Naruto's own appeared on her face. "Arigatou, Naruto!" She cried as she flung her arm around his shoulders and rubbed her knuckles into his scalp. "Noogie!" She called, ignoring Naruto's cries of protest. Eventually Sakura released him and they made their way back to Tazuna's house. Naruto felt happy, that he had formed a bond with Sakura – a brother-sister bond that already seemed so strong. Sakura felt the same way too. She wasn't the best person to him in their childhood, and she felt that she could make up for it by helping Naruto. Being a sister figure to him – maybe even a mother figure. The house came into view and Sakura called a race to the front door, pulling off before Naruto could even comprehend her words. "Hey! That's cheating Sakura-chan!" He called, but sprinted off after her nonetheless with a large grin on his face. Sakura slowed down as she closed in on the front door and Naruto sped past her and slapped his hand on the doorframe. "I win!" He cried, as he flashed a grin, which she returned.

She passed him and opened the door to see Sasuke putting on his sandals and Kakashi's hand extended to open the door. "Good, your back. We're going to training." Kakashi spoke as he pulled his hand back and placed on the crutch. Sakura and Naruto moved out his way as he swung outside, Sasuke following after. They followed Kakashi into a clearing not too far from the house. "For your training you will be climbing trees-" Naruto cut him off, "But we can already climb trees!" though it wasn't noticeable, Sasuke nodded his head in the background. Kakashi sighed, "If you let me finish, then you'd know that you'll be climbing without using your hands." There was a moments silence before a scream of surprise ripped from Naruto's throat. Kakashi just shook his head and did a demonstration. Supplying his feet and crutches with chakra he walked up the tree as if it was regular horizontal ground. The two boys gaped in shock and Sakura nodded her head. "This is what you're gonna teach us, Kakashi-sensei!?" Naruto called to his sensei, who stood upside down on a branch relatively high up in the tree. He quickly made his way back down the tree and threw three kunai in front of three trees. Sakura looked at the kunai and started walking up the tree with ease. "But what is chakra?!" Naruto called after he made his way to the tree and picked up his kunai. Kakashi turned to where he thought Sakura was and found her gone. Panic fluctuated in him for a second and he looked around. "Training status: Complete!" She called down to him and the rest of team seven looked up and saw her at, pretty much, the top branches of the tree. She grinned at their dumbfounded looks before throwing herself off the branches and onto a lower one until she reached the ground. "I'm a chakra moulding expert, this is child's play." She announced and then she turned to Naruto, explaining what chakra was – in terms so Naruto could understand. After that she watched her two team mates rush at the tree for what seemed like hours. Within those lengthy moments she and Kakashi exchanged words, mainly consisting on Sasuke and Naruto's progress with the tree climbing. Eventually Kakashi called them back so they could get dinner at Tazuna's house.

On the way they discussed their plans for tomorrow. "Alright team…" Kakashi spoke up, grabbing everyone's attention. He continued: "I want Sakura to stick with Tazuna tomorrow, considering that she is the only one who's completed the training. Sasuke and Naruto I want you two to go back to the training ground and keep practising I will supervise you." The team agreed. They stepped into the house and Tsunami had literally just finished setting dinner on the table. They had all ate peacefully without any arguments like earlier that morning or the previous dinner. That was probably because Sasuke and Naruto were stuffing their face and puking it back up. Sakura slammed her glass of water onto the table grabbing everyone's attention. "Seriously… Are you really going to eat so much food to puke it back up!?" She screamed at them. It was disgusting to watch and plus Sakura felt bad, especially because someone had to clean up that puke… but on a serious note, she knew that the Wave country had little things at the moment. The two boys looked at each other and glared, "I have to eat more than him!" They grunted with their mouths full of food. Sakura flashed them a menacing glare. "Let me tell you something: This isn't your house, or your food. You're here in under someone else's roof. Respect that. The amount that you've puked up is a waste!" She took a breather, "And speaking of puke, _you _better clean it up. Tsunami-san shouldn't have to. Now eat your food properly or I'll make it so you're fed through a tube." She spoke, flashing them her shaking fist. The duo seemed to take the threat seriously because their pace slowed severely and they nodded. Sakura smiled and Tsunami seemed quite thankful too, mouthing a 'thank you' with a smile.

Soon dinner was over, Sasuke and Naruto had cleaned up their mess before declaring they were going back out to train. Sakura had helped Tsunami with the dishes before retiring to the bedroom she shared with the currently absent males. She quickly cleaned up, hopped into a pair of pyjamas and climbed into bed. She looked over to where she left Rozen von Sorrow the entire day. It was propped up against the wall and she smiled. "You'll be coming out tomorrow, we'll be protecting Tazuna." She spoke as she reached over to it and placed it next to her on the bed. Slowly her eyes began to shut and she fell into a light slumber.


	6. Chapter 6

CL: Grief, it's been so long… My apologies to those that wanted me to continue SKoH, feel free to carry it on in my place – just PM me. Ugh, not much else to say really. I feel like I'm slacking off with writing since my exams started – even if I'm on study leave. That reminds me, I bought Fire Emblem: Awakening… I'm hooked. Nothing else to say about the matter. Also, I feel like having new contacts on my 3DS, PM if you want to talk – I'm so bored when I'm not writing! Send me a PM about that too. Sorry this took so long to release. I've finally finished my exams but I'm working on another two stories so please bear with me. One of them is for Fanfiction, but I'll write a few chapters before releasing it.

"Speaking"

'_Thoughts'_

'**Inners/ demons/etc'**

"**Demons"**(From Hell)

'_**Demon's Thoughts**_' (From Hell)

_Flashbacks_

"_Song lyrics"_(If I have any…)

(Authoress notes)

_(If there's anything I've missed, tell me in a review or PM me and I'll rectify it as soon as possible)_

**Chapter 6:**_** Caught.**_

Sakura sighed when she woke up to Naruto's loud snoring. She rolled over, pushing herself up, as she yawning and moved her hair out of her face. She quickly scanned the room and took note that Sasuke was just waking up himself. Said boy shot an annoyed glance Naruto's way but sat up and leaned up against the wall. His eyes met hers. Sakura raised her brow before breaking eye contact with him to rummage though her bag for some clothes. She felt his eyes remain on her until she made her way to the door and out.

Sakura changed in the privacy of the bathroom, making sure to bush her teeth and wash her face while she was in there. She quickly returned to the bedroom, Sasuke's eyes returned to her, taking in her clad black clothing. She looked round to him and took in that he too was changed into his usual outfit. They both looked over to Naruto then back to each other. Sakura sent him a look and walked out the room. Sasuke felt his eyebrow twitch before walking out the room after – not wanting to wake Naruto.

Half-way though breakfast Naruto came down the stairs and caused a ruckus about how no-one woke him up for breakfast. In return, Sakura sent another look to Sasuke and he shrugged her off, continuing his breakfast. After that, breakfast continued without a hitch. Sakura strapped her blade, Rozen von Sorrow, to her waist and followed Tazuna to the bridge. She sat under the shade of a nearby tree and watched with eagle eyes. After, at least, an hour's work she saw some workers walk up to Tazuna. She made her way over, only catching the end of the conversation. "Don't come back to the bridge tomorrow." Tazuna muttered as he walked past them to continue working. "Tazuna-san, allow me to help." Tazuna's angry faces turned towards her. "What make's you think that you'll be of any help?" He replied bitterly. Sakura smiled and shrugged, "I can carry the _really _heavy stuff!" she spoke proving her point by picking up a metal beam with one hand and swinging it around a bit. "Besides, this is good training." Tazuna's face brightened up a bit and he flashed a thankful smile. "You're hired!" He called to her and he began instructing her on where to put what.

The day passed quickly and Tazuna called it a day – the remaining bridge builders gave their farewells and headed home. Tazuna announced that they needed to go into town and buy food for dinner. When they walked though the town Sakura felt her heart twist in sympathy. She gave money and little snacks she had to the people who pleaded for it. "It's been like this ever since Gato came here and took control of our ports." Tazuna began as he scanned the near-empty shelves for food – most of which weren't even in good quality. "Everyone who opposes him just disappears." He continued as he dropped the produce in a grocery bag. They walked out and headed back to the house. "I'll do everything in my power to make sure that bridge is built!" Tazuna spoke as he neared the door. Sakura nodded and smiled, "I'll do what I can to keep you safe on duty." She replied. In her peripheral vision she saw Naruto and Sasuke walking over, "You don't mind me going for a walk do you? I should be back before dinner." She asked and Tazuna nodded and she walked away.

In Tazuna's house:

Sasuke and Naruto had been resting up in Tazuna's house for a while after, finally, reaching the top of the tree. Kakashi had congratulated them and then left them to do what they wanted to until dinner. Sasuke found himself immersed in the book he was reading yesterday. Naruto was bothering Kakashi to teach him something else and said man just ignored him, reading his book. Kakashi looked at the clock and took note it was almost dinner time and Sakura wasn't back. "Sasuke, Naruto." He called. Naruto immediately shut up and Sasuke looked up from his book. "Go look for Sakura, it's almost dinner." Sasuke sighed and folded the corner of the page before closing the book and walking out the door with Naruto at his heels.

The two walked out the house and began wandering around the forest, looking for Sakura. They came to clearing and soon found, what they thought to be, the remnants of a battlefield before their eyes. Kunai and senbon began flying overhead and deflecting of each other, joining the discarded ones that littered the field. They dived into the bushes in hopes of not being detected. "Little girl, stop playing around. Give me your shards and this will be over. I promise to kill you quickly." A man's voice boomed over the empty field. He got no reply from his opposition. Sasuke and Naruto glanced at each other and before they could even exchange quiet whispers, the ground shook and a tall, stocky man landed in front of them. The number 'Four' was printed on the side of his bald head. "I found you!" he sang, in a voice of sheer insanity. The two boys froze and the man picked up the two of them by the scruff of their collars. They tried wiggling out of his grasp, but no avail. "You're not my opponent!" He roared in their faces before thinking for a few seconds. "I guess I'll kill you anyway!" He smiled, and tightened his grip on their collars, causing the two to choke. There was a blur of black before a sickening crunch sounded. Sasuke and Naruto dropped to the floor and breathed heavily, trying to recover from their low oxygen supply.

They looked to their saviour, only to see Sakura, enraged. "Don't bring my team mates into this, Four." She growled as she lowered her leg, dipping to retrieve a fallen kunai and senbon. She stood before her team mates protectively. "Shade. Light 'er up!" The small demon appeared over her shoulder in a burst of flames – igniting the kunai. "Naruto! Sasuke! Get to safety!" She called as she ran at Four. The man glared at her after looking up from his broken elbow. The bone jutted out of his skin at off angles and he hissed. "You're gonna pay for that bitch…!" He pulled out more kunai and threw it at the three of them. Sakura took the brunt of the attack, deflecting the majority with her own kunai. Sasuke threw her a glare and a: "What the hell is going on, Sakura?!" It was quickly followed by a laugh from Four. "Oh, so your puny friends don't know?" Sakura growled and appeared in front of him in a flash. "I don't believe they deserve to know." Four jumped back and dodged a blow to the side. "Know what?! Sakura-chan! Tell us!" Naruto called from behind the two duellists. "Yeah, _Sakura-chan_, tell them." Four paused to smirk, "Tell them how you sold yourself to the God of Hell." Sakura heard the duo gasp from behind her. "As if you didn't either, Four. Unlike _you_, I still have my soul and my freedom!" She spoke darkly as she closed the gap between Four and her kunai. Four cursed as he leaned backwards as far as his stocky body allowed. The kunai cut at his necklace. Sakura quickly took them for her herself and sneered at him as he fell on his rear. "I dare you to _try _and take this back you lowlife _scum._ I'll break your neck and leave you for dead." She pronounced every syllable, and fear washed in Four's features. He backed up waving his good arm in defeat. "I'll get you back bitch." He snarled as he high tailed it out of the open space, cradling his broken arm.

Sakura turned to her team mates, who were _still _in open space despite her warnings to take cover. They looked at her with a look. One Sakura couldn't place her finger on. Sakura sighed, and looked away from her team mates. "I guess you want an explanation." They both seemed to shoot her the same 'Damned Straight' glare, though Sasuke's was much more forceful. Sakura laughed awkwardly as she pocketed the string of shards. "I'll explain when we get to the house. No point in leaving Kakashi-sensei out." She spoke quietly. They quickly made their way back to the house. They ate dinner in an awkward yet forced silence. Kakashi noticed the tension between his students and called them up stairs to their shared room. Sakura sat in front of the window, soaking up the rays of the evening sun. Kakashi sat opposite her, Sasuke leaned on the wall to her left and Naruto was sat on the floor to her right. "I'm sensing some form of hostility, and I want to know what it's about and why it's happened." Sasuke was quick on the gun to reply to his words: "Sakura is keeping something from us." Sakura scoffed. "It's not something you're supposed to know." Sasuke quickly threw her a glare. "If you're really a team mate then you wouldn't keep something this big from us." Kakashi and Naruto sat in silence, watching the exchange. The room went silent after that comment. Sakura threw her head back and laughed, bitterly. "Oh, that's fucking rich. So, how much is there that _you _haven't told us _Uchiha_…? Hm. I find it so fucking hilarious that _I _have to tell something because some goon thought it was okay to mention it to you but you can leave your skeletons hanging in the closet while mine's open for you all to judge!" Sakura's voice rose. Sasuke inwardly winced, understanding what Sakura was saying. "Tch, it doesn't matter anyway. I said that I'd tell you. I do expect you to tell me something. Not now, maybe later, or in a few days, just as long as you do." Sakura muttered, crossing her leg over the other and resting her arm on the window sill. She took a breath and called for Shade. "**Hai, Sakura-chan?**" he answered, and he perched himself on her shoulder as usual. "I want you to hear this too. Everything." She said and Shade nodded and everyone got comfortable.

"It all started two weeks ago, when team 7 was founded. A three man cell consisting of: Uchiha Sasuke, the last Uchiha with the dream of killing his brother for the murder of his clan. Uzumaki Naruto, the village's number one knuckleheaded ninja. And Haruno Sakura, the little civilian fan girl. We were assigned to special Jounin, Hatake Kakashi of the Sharingan Eye and ex-student to the late Yondaime." She began and she saw the males with shocked and confused looks and she shook her head, "Questions later. Kakashi gave us the bell test and we failed the first time round. Naruto was tied to the post but Kakashi gave us a second chance. We passed. For a week and a half we were given D-rank missions. The last being catching the runaway cat: Tora. (Insert groan from Naruto) On that same day we were assigned a C-rank mission thanks to Naruto's persistence. We were going to the land of the waves, mission: Protect Tazuna. On the way we were attacked by two Chuunin, Demon Brothers. The Mission changed to a B-rank but Team 7 pressed on. They then encountered Momoichi Zabuza – a Jounin-level missing nin. Team 7 fought hard and soon the battle ended. The battle ended by a senbon to the neck by a Hunter Ninja working for the mist. He took the body away. Kakashi was left in bad shape for a few days after Team 7 had declared that the mission was actually an A-rank. Team 7 and Zabuza clash again, four days after their first encounter. Kakashi fights Zabuza whist Naruto and Sasuke fight Haku – the 'Hunter Ninja' – and Sakura protects Tazuna. Haku eventually loses his life to Kakashi by protecting Zabuza from a Raikiri. Gato appears and states that he was going to kill Zabuza and Tazuna. Zabuza kills Gato. The villagers, led by Inari, fight back against the rest of Gato's men. The mission is complete along with the bridge, which is named the 'Great Naruto Bridge' after Naruto because he saved Tsunami and Inari from Gato's thugs. Team 7 return to Konoha and return to D-rank missions." Sakura stopped and took a breath, she took a moment to gather her thoughts and relive them.

"This is where things go downhill. Kakashi nominates Team 7 for the Chuunin Exam. Prior to telling the Team, Naruto and Sakura run into three Shinobi from the village of Suna. The sand siblings – children to the Kazekage. Sabaku no Gaara, a powerful and formidable opponent, but houses a tailed beast which yearns to be free. Kankuro, Gaara's older brother, who controls puppets. And Temari, the eldest of the three, and uses a fan for both offence and defence. Kankuro was about to attack Konohamaru for bumping into him on accident but was stopped by Sasuke, momentarily before Gaara stepped in, threatening to kill his older brother. After that, Sasuke and Gaara exchange names – in hope of a future battle in the Chuunin Exams. The following day, Kakashi gives us the registrations slips to enter. The following day we were in the Chuunin exam, with the rest of the rookie nine – Team 8 and Team 10. We took a written test and then the 'Practical' test if you wish to call it that." She stopped again. She looked away from her team mates with shifty eyes. "I don't really want to… talk about the next parts…" She mumbled. Shade patted her shoulder and she looked at him, he smiled. "**It's okay Sakura-chan, you don't have to. Just use a Genjutsu to show us everything.**" Sakura nodded. Throwing her hands into a few hand signs she pulled them into her mind. Sakura closed her eyes and when she opened them the five of them were in her mind: A blank, white landscape. She immediately saw Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke and Shade. "Guys…" she began and they turned to face her, "Welcome to my mind." She continued and she walked towards them. "Now: you will watch, through my eyes, the ups and the downs of my life and my secret." She whispered as she faded away and they all became Haruno Sakura. (Basically she's showing them what happened in the Anime up to a certain point, then through half of Chapter One when she actually returns to the past but not where she kills her adoptive parents.)

When Sakura had finished showing her memories to her team mates she let them go from her mind and they all looked at her sympathetically. Sakura glared, "I'd rather you not give me your sympathy. I'm here to change what happened starting with: keeping you," She pointed at Sasuke, "away from Orochimaru and inside of Konoha." Sakura spoke as she leaned back in her chair. "Doesn't that mean it will be fairly easy for you to change everything then?" Kakashi asked, shuffling in his chair. Sakura bit her lip. "I'm afraid it's not that easy. Not only are there numerous paradoxes occurring around me from using Hell as my ticket back, if I change something then it will obviously change something else further on in time. Every action has a consequence." Sakura spoke as she tapped her fingers on the windowsill. She soon turned her glance towards her team mates. Kakashi seemed to have understood but Sasuke and Naruto still seemed confused. "For example:" She spoke and both boys looked at her, "If Kakashi wasn't to kill Haku this time around and Zabuza was to help us fight against Gato, what would happen after that. Would they stay and protect the Wave Country? Will they turn their back on everyone and continue down their current path? Will they come with us to Konoha? If something different happens then there will be a knock-on effect. One that might affect us for the better or for the worse is something we won't know until it hits us." The two nodded in understanding but grew silent to digest the newfound information. After that the team dispersed and went to separate places in the house. Sakura remained seated at the windowsill.

Sakura pulled off her necklace and attached her new shards to it. "**That's two more. We just need four more.**" Shade spoke from Sakura's shoulder. Sakura nodded. "Yeah but now that I think about it, why do I have to collect these? My… I guess you can call it a wish, has already come true _and _I'm already a Soul Eater." Shade laughed, and Sakura sighed, "For his amusement then, huh…?" She mumbled to herself, face-palming. Sakura changed into her pyjamas but remained by the window, soaking up the last of the Sun's light before going to bed. Sakura fell asleep sometime before Naruto and Sasuke walked in to go to bed. Naruto looked at Sakura with guilty eyes. "I never knew Sakura-chan…" Naruto whispered as he stepped towards her, but stopped a few inches before her. "I'm gonna train hard Sakura-chan! So we can change the future - You, Me, Teme and Kakashi-sensei too!" He whispered loudly, and he flashed her sleeping body a grin and got changed and crawled into his sleeping bag. Sasuke, who watched Naruto talk to Sakura, turned over in his sleeping bag when he had finished. '_She's from the future, the future which I destroyed…' _he glared at the wall. '_But why would I leave Konoha for power? I mean... I know I need power to Kill Itachi but... Konoha is my home. Right…?' _ Sasuke thought to himself but no matter how much he asked himself he could never come up with an answer that could make him feel at ease. '_But then again, all that power… enough to crush an entire village…!_' Sasuke pondered. "Tch, I'll think about in the morning…" He muttered to himself aloud as he tried to get to sleep as soon as possible to avoid having to listen to Naruto's snores for the rest of the night.

When morning came Naruto was, once again still asleep, so the rest of Team 7 moved out to the bridge to protect Tazuna. Sasuke began fighting with Haku and Kakashi with Zabuza like the previous time. Sakura remained, protecting Tazuna, like last time too. Naruto dived in to help Sasuke when he arrived. Sakura stood her eyes darted across the battlefield, watching everyone's movement. Something caught her eye. In the thickness of the mist, a flash of familiar red hair blurred towards her. Sakura dived and caught the hurtling body of her brother. She skidded to a stop after his body hit hers. "Hibiki…! Are you okay?!" She called as she shook him. His eyes blinked open as Tazuna ran over. He shook his head in attempt to clear his muddled thoughts. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just got caught unprepared." He groaned out as he stood up. Sakura grabbed his wrist and let her medical chakra move through him, checking for injury. "Caught unprepared…? By who…?" Sakura asked leaked her chakra to check her surroundings. "I think his name was Tamaki or something. Number Three." Hibiki spoke and Sakura nodded. "I think I've located him." Sakura spoke and then she looked between her brother and Tazuna. "Do you need help or…" She trailed off and Hibiki shook his head. "Nah, I'll be fine, if worst comes to worst, I'll come back here or spike my chakra." Sakura nodded and Hibiki drew his sword and headed back off in the direction that his opponent was. "Be careful, Hibiki." She whispered more so to herself than to her brother as she watched him off. She turned to face Tazuna. He looked at her with a questioning gaze. "My big brother." He 'Ah'-ed and nodded his head and then silence met them once again as they waited for the battle to end.

'_So the events have stayed the same so far… well for the most part at least... So what's going to change…?_' Sakura thought to herself. On cue a laugh rang on the battlefield and Zabuza cleared the mist away. "Momoichi Zabuza…! Getting beaten by little kids…? How disgraceful!" Gato called, and his army of men behind him laughed. Zabuza scowled. "Why are you here, Gato?" He called back and said man smirked. "I'm here to toss out the trash. That includes you, your little bitch over there and Tazuna himself." Zabuza looked at Kakashi and jumped away from him, "I guess this means our battle is over, Sharingan Kakashi." Kakashi nodded at him and turned his head towards Gato, ready to fight. Sakura watched as Haku's Crystal Ice Mirrors smash into millions of pieces and everyone was revealed – her team mates were relatively okay. Sakura let out a sigh she didn't know she was holding. She turned her gaze back to Gato who was directing his men left and right to attack. Sakura pulled her hands into a hand sign and made three shadow Clones. "I'll protect Tazuna; you go wipe out the rest of Gato's goons. The quicker this is over with the better." Sakura ordered and glanced around as her clones headed towards the mass of ninjas. Gato was quickly wiped out by Zabuza and Haku after Kakashi and Sakura's clones cleared a path straight to him. "That was our meal ticket! Are you gonna pay us?!" The mob exploded angrily. Only to be pelted with arrows from the Wave Villages Citizens. "Get away from our village!" "Leave and don't return!" "Go away, ninja scum!" the villager's screams were loud and most of Gato's remaining ninja high-tailed it out while they had the chance. They cheered and a smile passed Sakura's lips, "Better than last time I guess." She mumbled as her clones poofed away.

Kakashi made his way over to Zabuza and Haku, discussing something with them that Sakura couldn't quite hear over the loud roars that came from the villagers. Inari and Tsunami came over and began speaking with Tazuna, so Sakura left them to it, taking it upon herself to heal her team mates' major injuries, if they had any. "Hey, Naruto, Sasuke. You're not too injured are you?" She asked once she reached them. Sasuke shook his head and Naruto grinned, "Nah, we're fine, just these stupid needles." Naruto spoke as he lifted up his arm to yank one out. Sakura quickly closed the distance between them and slapped his hand away. He let out a quiet shriek of surprise and looked at Sakura's face. "You shouldn't rip them out. It could scar, but worse of all it _will _actually hurt more if you just rip them out." She spoke as she pushed him gently away from her, waving the three senbon needles that were in his arm. He blinked, his head moved from the senbon needles to his arm, and then back again. He then met Sakura's gaze with a confused but excited look. Sakura smirked, "And you didn't feel a thing. Now both of you come here and I'll take the rest out." Naruto walked over and Sasuke, reluctantly, followed after him. It only took Sakura five minutes to get them all out and she smiled, "All done!" She spoke, patting them on the shoulders. Sasuke nodded in thanks and Naruto grinned. "Thanks Sakura-chan!" The duo wandered off and Sakura perched herself on the bridge scaffolding and sighed. Her eyes locked onto the celebrating villagers and then to Kakashi, Zabuza and Haku. Kakashi's hand's moved in a persuasive manner, Zabuza had a contemplative look, though he hid it well with his usual furrowed brow and bandaged face. Haku looked indifferent about whatever the three of them were discussing. Sakura looked towards the woods where her brother disappeared. She sighed, "I swear, you better be alive." Sakura toyed with her necklace, looping her fingers around small glass containers that held her Chronos shards.

Sakura noticed Kakashi giving her a look and she walked over. "Is there a problem?" She asked looking between the two parties. Kakashi nodded and explained the situation, the reason why Zabuza and Haku was working for Gato. "They needed the money to pull together a coup to change to Mist Ninja Academy." I looked towards the two of them. "But I don't see how this is a problem." Sakura spoke, confused. "Especially because the Mizukage has already passed away." Kakashi sighed, "_That's _the problem. They've lost their reason to fight and they'll be hunted down by Mist Hunter Nin." Sakura coughed, "Oh… right. I'm pretty sure you can deploy yourselves here as protectors to the Wave Country or perhaps you can come to Konoha, if you haven't attacked any Konoha Nin then you _should _be able to stay – considering it's the most likely place that will give you a chance as opposed to executing you on sight. I believe that you would be a valuable asset to Konoha, or the Wave Country." Zabuza and Haku looked between each other. "Are those our only options?" Sakura shrugged, "They're the only ones I can pull from the top of my head that would benefit you both greatly and possibly Konoha also." Zabuza nodded his head. Kakashi looked at Sakura and then to Zabuza, "You have time to think about it. Until the bridge is finished. If you make a decision prior to the bridge being built, come to the bridge anyway." Once again, Zabuza nodded. Then Haku spoke up. "What if we don't turn up?" Sakura sighed, "I'll consider it a decline to either offer and we'll leave, no questions asked. You'll have to deal with your problems alone afterwards." Haku hummed and Sakura quirked her brow in return. He looked away. She turned her gaze to the woods once more. "Hey, Kakashi-sensei…" He looked at her and she noticed that he still hadn't pulled down his head band. "I need to go look for my brother." Kakashi didn't move or question her so she just left. Quickly taking off towards where she saw her brother head off to.


End file.
